Women's Basketball Earns Win over Grove City in Tip-Off Tournament

The Penn State Behrend women's basketball team finished the annual 2009 Tip-Off Tournament looking strong with a decisive 80-57 win over the Grove City Wolverines.  Behrend competed in the consolation game after dropping a heartbreaker to Fredonia in the first game of the tournament.

In the first half, Grove City climbed ahead early building a quick 10-4 lead.  A bucket by Amy Oldach (Erie, PA/Villa Maria) knotted the game at 14-14 with 13:22 to play in the half, and Behrend would start to pull away the rest of the half.  A 12-4 run by Behrend gave the blue and white a 26-18 advantage with just over eight minutes to play in the first half, as Behrend would continue pressuring the Woverines and creating points off turnovers.  The blue and white built a 43-27 halftime advantage by forcing 15 Grove City turnovers and shooting 47% from the floor.  Kelly Nowacinski (Erie, PA/Mercyhurst Prep) had 14 first half points for Behrend while Taylor Lotis (Jefferson Hills, PA/Thomas Jefferson) added eight.  

In the second half Grove City would get as close as ten with the score 52-42 with 12:42 to play.  From there it was all Behrend, as Oldach took over down the stretch doing a little bit of everything to finish with 15 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and six steals.  Nowacinski finished with 14 points, Lotis scored 11, and Abby Henderson (Meadville, PA/Meadville) added ten points.  Behrend attacked the basket getting to the line frequently, and capitalized by making 25-of-31 free throws in the win. 

In the championship game, Kenyon captured the title with a 70-52 win over Fredonia behind a tremendous game from Morgan Korinek.  The junior poured in 29 points to go with nine boards and was named tournament MVP for her efforts.  Joining her on the all-tournament team was Kathleen Williams whose presence down low helped hold Fredonia to 37% shooting in the title game.

Besides Korinek and Williams the other members of the all-tournament team were Amy Oldach (Behrend), Katie Landy (Fredonia), Merissa Gaeta (Fredonia), and Christine Slater (Grove City).

Penn State Behrend's record is now 1-1 and the blue and white are set to begin AMCC play on Tuesday, November 24 when they will travel to Franciscan to take on the Lady Barons.