Behrend Lions Fall to Mavericks 69-60 in AMCC Basketball Tournament

The Penn State Behrend women's basketball team closed out the 2008-09 season with a 69-60 loss to Medaille in the AMCC Tournament on Tuesday, February 24, in the Junker Center.

Medaille, winners of three straight AMCC regular season and conference tournament titles, entered as the fifth seed and nudged the Behrend Lions by nine. Behrend had reached the AMCC semifinals for eleven straight seasons, every season since the league began, and entered Tuesday's night's game with an unblemished 6-0 mark at home in 2009.

For most of the first half the Behrend Lions trailed the Mavericks by a couple of buckets. With only 1:09 remaining, Rachel Richardson (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) connected on her second jumper from three-point territory to cut the Medaille lead to four at 33-29. Richardson, this week's AMCC Player of the Week, led the Behrend attack with ten first half points on three-of-four from the field. Medaille was paced by Amanda Sahhar's 20-point, nine rebound effort over 16 minutes of work.

The blue and white hit five-of-nine from long distance (56%), while Medaille hit 44% from the floor and out rebounded Behrend 19-18 during the first twenty minutes.

After trading hoops to open the second frame of play, the Mavericks produced a 10-0 spurt to create a gap of 43-31 at the 17:15 mark. Medaille would stretch the lead to 17 with ten minutes to go, but Behrend kept in the game with tremendous effort. Kelly Nowacinski's (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) steal and lay-in at the 1:30 mark put the Behrend Lions within seven at 62-55. Medaille would then hit five-of-six free-throws in the closing two minutes to hold on for the win. Behrend made ten three-pointers, but shot only 34% from the floor, while the Mavericks wold hit 44% from the field and make thirteen-of-fourteen at the line.

Behrend senior guard Natalie Engel (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) finished with 14 points, while Medaille's Sahhar finished with a career-high 34 points and 15 rebounds as the Mavericks move on to play at tournament host Pitt-Greensburg on Friday, February 27 at 6:00 p.m.