10 The Daily Collegian
Sidelm.s
A brief look at the world of sports
w Scores
NBA
Orlando 122, Phoenix 106
Miami 88, Cleveland 81
Boston 110, Milwaukee 103
L.A. Clippers 104, Philadelphia 102
Utah 104, Minnesota 96
Portland 113, Indiana 108
Houston 95, Vancouver 89
Washington 99, Atlanta 91
New York 104, Chicago 79
San Antonio 106, Seattle 105
Toronto 128, Dallas 112
New Jersey 99, Denver 88
Sacramento 96, Golden State 95
NHL
Tampa Bay 1, Washington 0
San Jose 6, Buffalo 4
Boston 4, Florida 1
Detroit 5, Winnipeg 2
New Jersey 3, Philadelphia 2
Anaheim 3, Los Angeles 2
~chetlules
NBA
L.A. Clippers at Detroit, 7:30 p.m.
Vancouver at Sacramento, 10:30
p.m.
NHL
Dallas at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Florida at Chicago, 8:30 p.m
Student tickets not
available for NCAAs
Due to the very limited allot
ment made available to Penn
State, there will be no public sale
of tickets to the Lions' NCAA
Championship appearance
against Arkansas on Thursday,
March 14 in Providence, R.I.
Bud Meredith, Penn State tick
et manager, said the NCAA con
signment of 350 tickets will be
exhausted by demand from the
team and coaching staff, Univer
sity and athletic administration.
Seating for the Blue Band must
be accomodated within mandat
ed allotment.
Meredith said he has been
informed that all seats have been
sold for first-round action at the
Providence Civic Center, which
has a capacity of 12,931.
Game time for Thursday's
Penn State-Arkansas game will
be announced today.
The Lady Lion-Youngstown
State game will be Friday at 8:30
p.m. with tickets at $lO for
adults, $8 for students for game
packages.
Lady sluggers finish
break just over .500
The Penn State softball team
finished 9-7 after their week
long expedition to Florida.
In the F.A.U. Owl Invitational
the Lady Lions went 3-1 beating
Florida Atlantic 5-4 and 6-1, St.
Bonaventure 8-4 and lost to Cen
tral Michigan 2-0.
Anje Schwab blanked Florida
Atlantic with seven strikeouts in
the first game while Jen Hippo
and Sara Henick combined to
win the second game.
In the Speedline/USF Classic
tournament, the Lady Lions beat
East Carolina in the first game 6-
3. Schwab earned the victory and
Shannon Salsburg hit two home
runs.
Hippo picked up the loss
against Florida State 4-3 and in
the final game Tennessee-Chat
tanooga defeated the Lady Lions
10-3.
Heidi Hanna earned the loss,
but was the victim of poor
defense as the Lady Lions com
mitted three errors.
Quote ofY the,da
igt A /
vve knew that we
would have to play some
body good. I've seen
Penn State play on TV,
and they are awfully
good."
Nolan Richardson
Arkansas men's basketball coach
on his team's upcoming first-round
NCAA matchup against the Lions.
Compiled from Collegian staff and
wire reports.
Lady Lions: Queens of the Big Ten
By ROB AMEN
Collegian Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS With Katina
Mack out for the entire champi
onship game after getting hit in the
head and sustaining a severely
bruised nose during pregame
warmups, the Penn State women's
basketball team's task of repeating
as Big Ten tournament champions
grew more difficult.
After all, Mack was making a run
at tournament MVP with her inspi
rational play and two consecutive
20-point barrages in Penn State's
85-70 win over Northwestern in the
quarterfinals and 84-70 disman
tling of Ohio State in the semis.
Now consider that Lady Lion
leading scorer Angie Potthoff dis
located her knee just six minutes
into the title game against Purdue
and that task just begs for heroics.
But injuries are nothing new to
Penn State women's basketball.
Then again, neither is bouncing
back from them. Even Lin Dunn
knows that.
"Angie Potthoff has been injured
her entire career and she plays like
she's been shot out of a cannon,"
the Purdue coach said. "Every time
I see her pass out, get hit in the
head or hurt her knees. she always
gets up and scores 30 points."
Close.
Team trainers popped Potthoff's
knee back into place, and the junior
forward returned less than two
minutes later to ignite the Lady
Lions.
The team's leading scorer
burned the Boilermakers for 29
points and 11 rebounds in leading
No. 2 seed Penn State to a 71-69
thriller over No. 4 seed Purdue
here at Hinkle Fieldhouse last
Monday night. The win ensured
Penn State of the Big Ten's auto
matic berth into the NCAA tourna
ment.
"It's sore but I can play through
it," Potthoff said of her nagging
knee, adding that she feels she has
stepped up to the adversity. "My
Matt Gaudio penetrates past an Ohio State defender on Saturday. The
Lions will face Arkansas in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
It's Madness
Lions beat OSU, Providence next stop
By BRAD YOUNG
Collegian Sports Writer
The outcome of the men's bas
ketball game Saturday was never
really in question. Even at their
worst and they've been pretty
darn close to that lately the
Lions could handle Randy Ayers'
inexperienced and outmanned Ohio
State squad.
The Bryce Jordan Center-record
crowd of 15,190 15,191 if you
include a bewildered bird that
flapped around the arena wasn't
there to see if the Lions could
emerge with a win. They knew that
was coming.
Longworth, Mack give
all in tournament
knee cap popped out. Oh well. I
have to play through it."
She did, and ultimately the game
was settled in the final seconds.
Lady Lion point guard Tina Nichol
son tossed in two free throws with
3.7 seconds left to seal the victory
after Purdue cut a seven-point lead
to two.
"I knew I had to make them. I've
been in that situation before,"
Nicholson said. like to be in a sit
uation like that. That's what you
live for."
Nicholson. though, thrived all
night. With Mack, the team's spiri
tual leader, gone, the senior from
Downingtown stepped up with con
fidence and ignited the Lady Lions,
pouring in 10 of their first 12
points in the opening four minutes
and 28 seconds. Nicholson finished
with 22 points, tying her career
high, and seven assists in playing
all 40 minutes.
While the Lady Lions primarily
received scoring from Nicholson
and tournament MVP Potthoff, the
Boilermakers showcased a more
balanced scoring attack. Junior
Jannon Roland and seniors Tonya
Kirk and Stacey Lovelace paced
the team with 18, 17 and 16 points,
respectively.
However, neither team could
pull away from the other, mainly
because of the shooting percent
ages. Outside of the five aforemen
tioned, practically no one was hit
ting from the floor. The Lady Lions
managed to shoot 47 percent while
the Boilers hit good on just 40 per
cent of their shots.
But perhaps no points were big
ger than the six that sophomore
guard Tara Macciocco contributed.
Macciocco, who had been plagued
by injuries most of this season and
Please see WHOOPS, Page 18.
Sekunda now anew,
DeChellis leaving
What would be more intriguing
for all to witness is whether Jerry
Dunn's squad would return to
early-season form or continue an
ugly, month-long fall from grace
that had seen them drop four of
their last six games.
With an 86-70 triumph, the Lions
would do the former, showing signs
of breaking their decline just in
Please see CAGERS, Page 18.
Page 15
Angie Potthoff shoots over Purdue's Michelle Van Gorp in the Big Ten Championship game. Penn State
defeated Purdue 71-69.
Lions grapple with Big Ten results
Sanshiro Abe, Russ Hughes become
Big Ten champions, as Lions place
second at conference tournament.
By TIM HYLAND
Collegian Sports Writer
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Before the 1996 Big
Ten wrestling championships, the members of the
Penn State wrestling team had certain expecta
tions, both as individuals and as a team. And
although things didn't turn out exactly as planned,
Lions coach John Fritz was awful proud of his
team.
"I thought they did an outstanding job," Fritz
said: The guys had a lot of fight, intensity, and
En route to their second-place finish, Penn State
had two individual champions in Sanshiro Abe
(126) and Russ Hughes (150), both No. 1 seeds corn
ing in to the tournament.
The Lions also picked up two third-place finishes
in Biff Walizer (134) and Rob Neidlinger (190), a
fifth place in John Hughes (142), a sixth place in
Jason Betz (118) and two seventh places in John
Lange (158) and Matt Hardy (167).
Except for Hardy, all of those wrestlers earned
births for the NCAA tournament, which will be
held in Minneapolis in two weeks.
One of the expectations that Penn State failed to
realize occurred at 142 pounds, where the Lions
No. 1 John Hughes lost to Jason Davids of Min
nesota in the 142-pound quarterfinals. Hughes,
weakened by dropping weight, would go on to lose
once again to unranked Jon Vaughn of Minnesota
before beating Michigan State's Phil Judge 6-5 for
fifth place.
"I was fatigued and tired," Hughes said. -Hope
fully I can get my confidence back and start kick
ing some ass."
Meanwhile, 150-pounder Russ Hughes was doing
just that. Dominating the field in his conservative
style while battling a cold, Hughes took his first
lowa flies past rest of Big Ten... again
By STEVE FEITL
Collegian Sports Writer
EAST LANSING, Mich.
There are times when a second
place finish is not a bad thing.
Such was the case for the Penn
State wrestling team this week
end at the Big Ten Champi
onships. Despite a 92 point per
formance, the Lions could not top
perennial power lowa.
But considering no team has
been able to complete that task in
23 years, Lion coach John Fritz
could not be disappointed.
"We're not happy with second
place because we came here to
win it," Fritz said. "Yet we know
in a year like this, that's going to
be real tough. (Second place) is
ideal and I'm definitely pleased
with the effort."
Page 14
The Lions had three top-ranked
wrestlers coming into the tourna
ment and two of them -- Sanshi-
ever Big Ten title with a 2-1 double overtime victo
ry over Charlie Becks of Ohio State.
"I was really pleased with that match," Fritz
said. "He's on a mission."
Abe was very impressive, picking up two pins on
his way to a much anticipated 126-pound final
against rival Jeff McGinness of lowa. But Abe took
the title uncontested when McGinness could not
wrestle due to a ankle sprain.
Neidlinger and Betz provided surprising perfor
mances for the Lions, as neither entered the tour
nament ranked.
Betz, who started the year as a backup 126-
pounder, secured a sixth place finish and a nation
al tournament bid at 118 with impressive wins over
Purdue's Tim Dernlan, Northwestern's Dominic
Caruso, and a pin against Minnesota's Kipp
"This is a dream come true," Betz said of his
national tournament birth. "Considering the weight
drop, I thought I wrestled about as good as I could
Neidlinger scored a huge win in his second
match of the tournament when he knocked off Wis
consin's Aaron Stark 5-4 with a takedown with 25
seconds left. Although he would lose to lowa's Lee
Fullhart in the next round, Fritz thought that Nei
dlinger wrestled with more confidence than he had
all year long.
Walizer, usually a very offensive-minded
wrestler, was rather conservative on his way to his
third-place finish. Walizer, although almost always
in control, won all of his matches by close margins,
and lost only to lowa's No. 1 Mark Ironside. Iron
side would go on to win the 134-pound title.
"If you make any mistakes here, it's a lot harder
to come back," Walizer said. "There aren't any
slouches here."
Lange and Hardy each had good and bad
moments, but only Lange earned a wildcard spot to
nationals.
"Two of the matches I thought I wrestled real
well," Lange said. In the two losses I just didn't
get my stuff going."
"Any time you can keep the kind of string we've
put together going, it's crucial to the program.
To do so with the domination of the scoring
makes it all the more worthwhile."
ro Abe (126) and Russ Hughes
(150) came away with Big Ten
titles.
However. John Hughes, the
No. 1 ranked wrestler at 142
pounds, was upset in the semi
finals by No. 4 Jason Davids of
Minnesota and had to settle for
fifth place.
With 154.5 team points, the
Hawkeyes cruised to another Big
Ten title. Four lowa wrestlers
finished at the top of their weight
class including Mark Ironside
Monday, March 11, 1996
coach of lowa's perenial powerhouse
(134), who was named Big Ten
wrestler of the year.
Bill Zadick (142), Joe Williams
(158) and Daryl Weber (167) also
won Big Ten titles for the
Hawkeyes. All 10 lowa wrestlers
placed and nine were automatic
qualifiers.
"Any time you can keep the
kind of string we've put together
going, it's crucial to the pro
gram," said lowa coach Dan
Gable, who was named co-coach
Please see WRESTLE, Page 18.
Collegian
Dan Gable