Tuesday, March 24, 1998

Collegian Sports Briefs for Tuesday, March 24, 1998

Lady Sluggers finish weekend tourney 3-1

With the postponement of Friday's games due to rain, the Penn State softball team was forced to play three games on Saturday at the Winthrop Invitational.

Penn State Softball Home Page

The team finished the tournament with a 3-1 record, but failed to qualify for the playoffs with a loss to Kent State.

In game one, Penn State defeated UNC-Greensboro 5-1. In the second game, they shutout Winthrop 7-0, and in game three the Lions downed St. Joseph's 7-1. Kent ended Penn State's run with a 5-2 win in the fourth game.

Louisiana State eventually won the tournament against Virginia.

Penn State (8-12-1) hosts Wisconsin in its home opener at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Lady Lion Field.

Brown's trial delayed again, no new date set

The trial of former Penn State basketball player and assistant coach Monroe Brown has been delayed again, said Brown's attorney David Carey yesterday. A new date has not been set.

Carey said the prosecution is not prepared for the start of the trial and has asked for it to be postponed. Carey said it could begin later this spring or this summer.

Brown was indicted in November on 17 drug-related charges. The most serious being that Brown was a drug kingpin. Brown denies all charges. He is being held in the Harford County (Md.) Detention Center. His bail is set at $500,000.

Brown, who played guard for the Nittany Lions between 1988 and '92, also served as an assistant coach for the Lions for two seasons (1994-96).

The state is accusing Brown of being one of the kingpins of a 39-person drug ring. Brown and high school classmate, Aaron N. Mathis, are accused of being the kingpins.

Brown was linked to Mathis through wiretaps of Mathis' pager, cellular, business and home phones. In January, Carey of the Brown, Brown and Brown law firm (no relation to Monroe) said he plans on filing a motion to suppress the evidence police gathered through wiretap.

Brown was serving as an assistant coach at Marist in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., at the time of his arrest. Before that, he was an assistant at Penn State under Jerry Dunn and Bruce Parkhill. Brown was known as "Monnie" during his playing days and is still eighth on Penn State's all-time scoring list.

-- by Brian Costello