Page 12
Sports
Bits
by JOe Mottillo
coos ian Sof
Upset: Number one ranked
Indiana fell to Ohio State, 81-
77Jamie Skelton's three-point
shot with three seconds left, put
OSU up 71-70. Skelton hit
another trey with forty seconds
left in overtime to put the
Buckeyes up for good.
Caught: Pat LaPonudne of the
Buffalo Sabots has caught Mario
Lemieux in the NHL scoring
race with 104 points. Lemieux
has played in 40 games
compared to LaFontaine's 59.
Mario is expected back either
this week or next.
Shoot out: The Western
Conference All-Stan defeated
the Eastern Conference, 135-
132, in the annual NBA All-
Star game. Phoenix Suns Dan
Majerle and Charles Barkley
each hit threes to put the West
up for good in overtime.
Michael Jordan of the East led
all scorers with 30 points while
Mark Price set an all-star record
with six three pointers.
Halfway there: The NBA is
halfway through the season. My
pick to win the title is the
Seattle Supersonics, who added
inside strength with the trade for
Sam Perkins. MVP for the
season is Charles Barkley of the
Phoenix Suns. If the Sonics
don't win the title, Sir Charles
and the Suns will. This is
probably his best chance of a
NBA title. My choice for
Rookie of the Year is easy,
Shaq, no contest.
Play ball: With the start of
spring training, opening day is
only around the corner. The
teams that helped themselves
the most are probably the
Atlanta Braves, the New York
Yankees and the San Francisco
Giants. The teams that didn't
help themselves would have to
be the Pittsburgh Pirates, the
Oakland A's and the Los
Angeleles Dodgers. I pick
Toronto to repeat as World
Series champions.
Perfection: Julio Cesar
Chavez remained undefeated as
he TKOed Greg Haugen in a
WBC super lightweight title
fight. The fight was held at
Mexico's Aztec Stadium.
Chavez stretched his record to
85-0 with 73 KO's as he
stopped Haugen in the fifth
nxmd.
Spikers win: The Penn
State-Behrend men's club
volleyball team defeated
Slippery Rock last night in five
games. After losing 7-15 in the
first game, the Lions won the
next two 15-7 and 15-6. SRU
won the fourth game 15-11, but
Behrend was too tough as they
prevailed 15-11 to win the
match.
Hot off the Respress
by Keith E. McFall
Sports Editor
The Athlete of the week for
this week is a person most
people have seen in action or at
least heard about at some point in
the last two years here at
Behrend
Stephen Respress is a standout
forward on the men's basketball
team who came here in 1991 and
had a serious impact on the
basketball program. "People like
to watch players like Steph.
He's an exciting player," said
Head Coach Fred Paulsen.
After he played two years at
Penn State- Shenango, Respress
transferred to Behrend to complete
his degree and his basketball
career.
He averaged 14.7 points per
game through the first 23 games,
to lead all scorers. In the last
two games, however, he has
averaged 21.5 points per game.
He had 24 points against
Houghton on February 20, and
added 19 on Tuesday night at
Keuka.
Why this sudden outburst in
point production towards the end
Keymaster: Behrend forward Krista Hershner shows her Thiel
opponent how it's done. The girls won on the road at Greenville.
Graduate making the
by Joe Mottillo
Co&giant Staff
Not even a year out of
college, Paul Benim has done
more with the post-college
experience than others his age.
A spring '92 graduate of Behrend
and 'BB graduate of Iroquois
High School, Benim has found
himself involved in one of the
most successful women's
athletic programs in the country
here at Behrend.
He is completing his second
Sports
Kristie Guldner/ Photographer
"Count NI": Thiel defenders watch helplessly as Behrend
forward Stephen Respress gets nothin' but net.
of the season? "The added season, and Coach told us to go
pressure of making the playoffs out and enjoy ourselves," said
was gone near the end of the Respress.
season as the women's assistant
basketball coach and is entering
his first season as head women's
softball coach.
"As an assistant, you give
input and suggestions.
Sometimes they're used,
sometimes they're not. As a
head coach, you make the
decisions," said Salim.
"Because the athletes I coach
and I are close in age , I can
relate to them. I also have to
remember that I'm their coach,"
commented Baiim.
Lions
by Hal D. Coffey
Collegiax Staff
It's March Madness time for
the Behrend Lady Lions
basketball team. Unlike
Division I where teams are
playing to get into post-season
tournaments, Divisions 111 teams
are receiving bids and starting
their tournaments.
For Behrend, that means time
to get ready for a repeat
appearance in the ECAC south
regional tournament.
After easily handling Grove
City and Thiel College, coach
Jenepher Banker believes that this
year's team is ready to go.
"We're probably the hottest team
in our region going into the
ECAC's," commented Banker.
With the women's basketball
and softball seasons
overlapping, Benim was asked if
their is any conflict.
"I think I do a decent job of
separating the two. When I'm
at basketball practice, I focus on
that. When I'm at softball
practice, I focus on that.
During the day, I bounce
between both."
"Brett Banker set things up
very well (with the softball
team). I need to keep things
going in the same direction," he
Thursday, February 25, 1993
Paulsen added, "Steph's mind
was more focused the last couple
of games, and I think he wanted
to go out and prove himself at
the end of the season."
Respress attended Union High
School in New Castle, Pa, where
he amazingly only played one
year of high school basketball.
Luckily, two factors convinced
him to play his senior year. "I
played football and baseball for 3
years and I wanted to play all
three sports my senior year, and
my basketball coach talked to me
about it and convinced me to
play," he said.
He was selected to the All
Section and All State teams at
wide-out on the football team,
and played centerfield for the
baseball team.
Respress has one semester left
before he graduates with a degree
in Management, but his
eligibility has run out for
basketball.
When asked what he will
remember about his career at
Behrend Respress said, "My
relationship with the students and
athletes is what will stick in my
mind the most."
wait
With the starting lineup well
intact and healthy, the ladies plan
on having lighter practices this
week in preparartion for next
week's probable bid
announcements. Once Behrend
knows who they will have to
play, then the real workouts
begin.
Banker plans on many of
running drills and 5 on 5
scrimminging so the team will
not be out of their routine.
Coach Banker does not have an
immediate plan for the play-offs,
but in order to claim their second
straight ECAC crown, they must
continue their tenacious defense,
keep their foul totals down, and
they MUST play like they have
in their last few games of the
season.
grade
"I'm very enthusiastic about it
(head softball coach). It is a
very big challenge. I'm reaching
a comfort zone with the
players."
"A goal for softball would be
for us to win 30 out of 40
games. I think that's what it
would take to go to the
NCAA's."
With his other job as
assistant basketball coach,