Penn College Men, Women Return to Basketball Court

Vol. 8, No. 22 (Through Sunday, Jan. 10)

Penn College Wildcat Tales With most of their nonconference games behind them, the focus of the men's and women's basketball teams at Pennsylvania College of Technology now is on their Penn State University Athletic Conference foes. The Wildcats return to action Thursday at Penn State Hazleton with games at 6 (women) and 8 (men) p.m.

MenStatistically through 10 games, the numbers don't look very good for the Wildcats (3-7) as they've scored an average of just under 67 points per game, while allowing just under 91. But all of their losses were against NCAA Division II and III colleges and coach Gene Bruno hopes that, by playing "up," it helps in the long run.

"If you look at other rosters in the conference, everybody's got some 6-foot-6 or 6-foot-5 players, and a couple of them, so playing "˜up' was definitely an advantage. But it isn't like we're just going to walk into the league and waltz through it; we've got our work cut out for us. We've got to bring our "˜A' game to every game that we play," said the coach, who is in his 14th season.

Leroy Joiner (Williamsport) leads the team in scoring with an 18.5-points-per-game average. Greg Solyak (Lancaster) is second with a 15-ppg average.

Mike Knepp, a senior center-guard from Swiftwater, returns for the second semester.

In early PSUAC North Division standings, Penn State Wilkes-Barre holds a half-game lead over Penn College. Other teams in the division are Penn State Hazleton and Penn State Scranton.

In a preseason coaches' poll, Penn College was picked third, behind Penn State Beaver and Penn State DuBois. The Wildcats beat Penn State DuBois, 84-82, in their lone conference game thus far.

WomenThe Lady Wildcats have seven games under their belts, having dropped five, but haven't played since Dec. 4. They are scoring an average of just under 57 points per game and are allowing just more than 72 ppg.

"We had a lot of tough games the first semester and, hopefully, we can take what we learned from those games and carry it over to our league games," coach Alison Tagliaferri said.

"I definitely think we can make the playoffs and we have the potential to go to the Final Four again," added the coach, in her third season.

Kelsey Mack (Douglassville) tops Penn College scorers with a 15.9-points-per-game average, while Jessica Hohman (South Williamsport) is averaging 12.4 ppg.

In early PSUAC North standings, the Wildcats trail Penn State Wilkes-Barre by a half-game. Penn College was picked to finish fifth in the coaches' preseason poll, behind Beaver, Schuylkill, Greater Allegheny and Brandywine.

Recent Results/Upcoming Games Men's Basketball Overall record: 3-7 PSUAC record: 1-0Thursday, Jan. 14 at Penn State Hazleton, 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16 host Penn State Scranton, 3 p.m. Monday, Jan. 18 host Penn State Wilkes-Barre, 8 p.m.

Women's Basketball Overall record: 2-5 PSUAC record: 1-0Thursday, Jan. 14 at Penn State Hazleton, 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16 host Penn State Scranton, 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 18 host Penn State Wilkes-Barre, 6 p.m.

Coed Bowling Thursday, Jan. 21 at Johnson College (Green Ridge Lanes), 3 p.m.

(Complete rosters and season schedules are available on the college's Athletics Web site. For more information on the PSUAC, visit on the Web; more about the USCAA also is available online.)