Sports Lady Lions score Thursday, February 20, 1992 Greg Geibel/7Vie Collegian Keep your distance: Sophomore guard Kim Boyd looks for an open player during the Thiel game Lions finish season 15-11, now play bv Matt Cissne The Collegian After playing 26 basketball games, the Lions will have to get used to a new kind of game, a waiting game. The Lions lost to Keuka on Tuesday to lower their season record to 15-11. Now, they have to wait until March 2 for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference to decide which teams will get playoff bids. Guard Don Plyler is not sure whether the Lions will get a bid. "Right now it is just a waiting game. We would have felt a lot better if we had beaten Keuka " Plyler said. "We played well, but we could not pull it out. Now we just have to wait and see," he continued. Keuka dropped the Lions 71-68 in overtime. Behrend was up 38- 32 at the half, but Keuka came back strong and outscored the Lions 33-27 in the second half. Behrend was led by Byron Thorne’s 20 points. Plyler and Rick Clark scored 15 apiece while Rich Buzalka added eight points and six rebounds. The Lions’ loss to Keuka ended a three game win streak against Theil College, Grove City College and Dyke College. TEL the waiting game On Monday, the Lions defeated Dyke College 83-67. The Lions jumped out to a 9-0 lead behind seven early points from Stephen Rcspress. The Lions stayed out in front the whole game, except for a brief moment after the half when Dyke took a 40-39 lead. The Lions quickly grabbed the advantage and went on to win. Plyler led the Lions with 24 points while Clark finished with 18. Clark shot 11 for 12 from the free throw line. Behrend also got 15 points from Rob Hunt while Respress and Buzalka pulled down seven rebounds. The Lions out-rebounded Keuka 33-23 and shot 52 percent front the field compared to Keuka’s 50 percent. Last Saturday the Lions traveled to Grove City and crushed the Wolverines 80-66. The Wolverines shot an incredible 70 percent in the first half and had a 38-34 advantage. The Lions got going in the second half and outscored the Wolverines 46-28. Clark scored 27 points and nailed five three pointers. Thome added 15 and Buzalka and Respress scored eight apiece to help lead the Lions to victory. by Paul Benim The Collegian Annihilate is defined in the dictionary as follows: to reduce to utter ruin or complete nonexistence. The Lady Lions, ranked 20th in the nation among Division 111 teams did just that Thursday as they demolished Thiel College 78-40 in Erie Hall. Earlier this December the Lady Lions dropped Thiel in Greenville by an almost identical score 77- 45. Jenephcr Banker's team picked up their 20th victory on the season. An outstanding feat, considering this is only the third Behrend team of all time to win 20. In 1969, Roger Sweeting led the men's basketball team to a terrific 20-1 record. Sophomore forward Michelle Grover commented on the team's 20th win. "Winning 20 games is an outstanding accomplishment. It makes alt the pain, sweat, and hard work of pre-season conditioning and two hour practices all worthwhile.” The Lady Lions led this one from start to finish. Behrend opened up on an 8-0 run. It was Krista Hershner again getting the Lions roaring. Hershner hit the first two hoops of the game. These were followed by starting forward Michelle Grover hitting a baseline 6-footer, and the Lady Lions were off. The Lady Lions sprinted out to a half-time margin of 34-21, Last Thursday night in Eric Hall, the Lions defeated Thiel College 66-44. The Lions burst out to 21-8 lead with 10:39 left in the first half. Behrend continued to play well and owned a 40-18 lead at the half. The Lions were not as aggressive in the second half and the Tomcats clawed back to within eight with a little over four minutes to play. The Lions sparked back to life and scored the final 12 points to finalize the win. Behrend was led by Clark's 17 points while Scott Defoggi scored 11 and Buzalka added 10. The Lions only shot 42 percent from the field, but they held the Tomcats to 39 percent shooting. Behrend out rebounded Thiel 33- 27. So, now it has come down to a waiting game. Seniors Clark and Buzalka will be playing close attention come March 2. "If we don’t make the playoffs there will be some disappointment, although we had a productive season. Rick (Clark) and Rich (Buzalka) will be very disappointed however, since they doii't want to be finished placing," commented Plyler. 20th victory behind Hershner’s ten and Boyd's nine. Heather Shearer was big on the boards snagging five before the break. The first five minutes of the second half put the Tomcats away. A Becky Swartz 3-pointer increased the lead to twenty and within five, Thiel was down 20. The Lady Lions continued to execute on the offensive end. They hit an awesome 61 percent of their shots in the second frame. The ladies made some great passes for easy hoops. On the evening, the team dished out a season high 29 assists. Sophomore Kimberly Boyd was 8 x 12 for 16 points. Boyd, along with Darcie Bradley had 5 assists. As a team, Behrend out rebounded the Tomcats by 14, 44-30. Grover and Karen Strait had 6 each, Grover tossed in nine points. Hershner handed in her second straight 16 point performance. She was Bxll, with five boards and a personal best four blocks. Point guard Wendy Ebinger was up to her old tricks again. She picked the ball seven times, scored six points, grabbed four boards, and passed out seven assists. Thiel scorer, Tricia Kosenia continued to have problems with the tough Behrend defense. She entered the game as the nation’s fifth leading scorer, averaging 28.8 per games. The Lady Lions held the junior to 12 points on a terrible 6 x 24 for 25 percent. Against Grove City, however, m . M mm-.. Greg Geibel /The Collegian Standing tall: Junior forward Stephan Respress keeps the ball up and away from a Grove City defender. the Lady Lions ran into a little trouble. The Lady Lions, ranked 20th in the nation, came up a little short and dropped only their fourth game of the year to Grove City College by a tough 55-52 decision. Grove City, fresh off an upset of #9 nationally ranked Carnegie Mellon, jumped out to a 14-0 start. The Lady Lions fought hard, hung in there, and gained a 25-24 advantage at the half. Freshman Karen Strait led the comeback that only permitted ten points over the final fifteen minutes of the first half. Ice cold shooting by the Lady Lions and a couple of bad breaks cooled themselves off. The team hit only 22 of 80 shots for 27 percent, whereas Grove City hit a respectable 42 percent. Behrend was led by Michelle Grover and Krista Hcrshner. Both sophomores hit for 10 points and each pulled down five rebounds. Heather Shearer scored nine and grabbed five boards. Missy Thompson played solid, contributing 9 rebounds and 8 points off the bench. Behrend falls to 20-4. Grove City impoves to 13-8. The Lady Lions' final home game is Thursday, February 20th, at 7 p.m. \ ** |£ i; - * ■’«**•**. Page 15