Page 12 IN THE BLEACHERS by Stew Moore The Collegian Men's and women's hoops receive ECAC bids, a first in PSB history For the first time in Behrend history, the men’s and women’s basketball teams have earned post-season bids during the same year. Monday, both teams were selected to participate in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Southern Region championships, each grabbing number one seeds. The Lady Lions of Coach Jenepher Banker (21-4) were left out of the Mid-Atlantic region of the NCAA despite being ranked fourth in the region. "In the past few years, the committee has always chosen four teams from each region. This year they only took three," commented Coach Banker. The region is comprised of mostly Pennsylvania, but it also contains parts of Maryland as well. "There seems to be an Eastern PA vs. Western PA struggle. It's been going on for some time," continued Banker. Thirty two teams were selected into the NCAA, and 25 of them were out of the same conference. There were two other western PA schools in the running for a NCAA bid, but none of them were selected, "Why we weren't selected is a good question. If we knew we’d feel a lot better," said Banker. "Someone always gets left out. There is a lot of politics involved in it, and I hate to blame it on that. We're the new kids on the block, and proving ourselves this year will be beneficial," she added "The selection committee holds your destiny, no matter what type of year you have,” added Banker. The ECAC bid represents the first such opportunity for a women's basketball team from Behrend. "As the season progressed, we realized how close we were to getting a playoff bid," said sophomore center Anne Bonner, "We’re really happy." The women's team will host Wesley College (13-13) out of Dover, Delaware Thursday evening in Erie Hall. Game time is 7 p.m. The other semi-final bracket finds Ursinus (15-10) traveling to Frostburg State University (MD, 21-5). The title game will be held Saturday at the higher seed's arena. In men's play, the Lions of Thursday, March 5, 1992 Fred Paulsen will be making their second trip to the ECAC tournament in four years. The men's tournament will be held at one site, at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. "It's a great accomplishment for us,” said junior forward Scott DeFoggi. "It was one of our goals at the beginning of the year." The Lions were the number one seed going into the Keuka game, which turned out to be a tough loss for the Lions. 'T still thought we'd be in it," added DeFoggi. "We were the number one seed going in, and our loss didn't drop us that far." At Dickinson on Saturday the Lions will play Frostburg State (14-13). Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. In the nightcap, number two seed Dickinson (14-11) will meet number three Allentown (14-13). The title of the Southern Region will be decided on Sunday, beginning at 4 p.m. Oddly enough, in 1989, the last time a Lion team earned a post-season slot, under then head coach Doug Zimmerman, Penn State-Behrend played Frostburg in the opening round, losing 80-79 at the buzzer.
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