By: Jake Gibbons, Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, jmg6173@psu.edu

Mid-February saw some important events in Brandywine sports, as both the women’s and men’s basketball teams played back-to-back on Sunday, February 8.  The women’s team’s win Tuesday night, February 10, and in the space between it all we were able to honor three of the day’s, and indeed the season’s, most valuable contributors.

Brandywine’s women’s basketball team has been nearly unstoppable as of late, with a 17-7 (12-2 PSUAC) record and some remarkable talent to boot. This past Sunday, the team was able to bounce back after two consecutive losses with a 74-63 victory over Penn State Scranton. This marked an important turnaround for the team, as before the two losses, the team was undefeated, and was one of four teams in the PSUAC with two losses on record.

The momentum from Sunday’s victory carried from there into Tuesday night with another victory against Penn State Schuylkill, this time winning 67-58. This victory secured for the team the No. 1 seed and a chance of becoming the regular season champs, assuming Friday’s, February 13, game between Penn State Beaver and Penn State Greater Allegheny ends in our favor. In addition, Brandywine has also earned a spot in the PSUAC tournament set to happen the week of February 15.

Sunday was also Senior Day for the women’s team, and prior to the 1:00 p.m. game against Scranton the team’s only two seniors, Ebony Ford and Myeisha Matos, were honored with a small ceremony and an assortment of gifts and flowers. Both were key elements in the game that followed, each playing at their peak and Matos making two free throws late in the first half.

The men’s basketball team wasn’t so lucky, having suffered two consecutive losses that week. The first was to Schuylkill, the final score being 71-57, and the second also to Schuylkill two nights later with a heartbreaking final score of 75-74, with Schuylkill eking out a lead with a buzzer beater in the final seconds of the game.

However, the news wasn’t all negative. During halftime of Sunday’s game, another ceremony was held for Vince Screnci, who works on the scoring table at every home game. Screnci began working at Brandywine in the 1990s when he was still enrolled as a student, and as of Sunday has been doing so for twenty years. In recognition, an engraved plaque was hung in the Commons Building.

This past week was a time for celebration, a time for disappointment, and also a time for recognizing the hard work that every member of both teams put in routinely both on and off the court. The PSUAC tournament is fast approaching, and though we appear in pretty good stead at the moment, only time will tell if all of the work put in was worth it.