The Collegian : the weekly newspaper of Behrend College. (Erie, PA) 1989-1993, February 20, 1992, Image 15

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    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.
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