A long, hard road ended for the women's basketball team on Saturday as the Lady Lions lost to Atlantic 10 Conference rival St. Joseph's, 83-69. The loss ended a rough six-game stretch over the semester break that saw the Lady Lions' record drop to 3-7.

Penn State faced two Top-20 teams and two teams about to join the Top 20 over break, losing all four games. The Lady Lions started off on the right foot, crushing A-10 opponent St. Bonaventure 103-60 on Dec. 10, but lost, 85-61, to 10th-ranked Purdue Dec. 21.

The team bounced back with an 81-75 victory over Illinois, but suffered an 81-76 overtime loss to A-10 rival West Virginia and an 85-76 setback at the hands of No. 13 Virginia before its loss to St. Joe's.

The Lady Lions are having early-season problems, but Coach Rene Portland said the quality of the competition the team has faced this year has something to do with the team's record.

"We try to take on everybody, we try to play the best," Portland said. "We've been only 10 points away from beating teams in the Top 20."

And the Lady Lions will get another shot at a top team when No. 5 Maryland visits Rec Hall on Tuesday. Although Penn State needs a win to get back on track, Portland said she wants to face stiff competition.

"I'd rather play a Top-10 team than a team like St. Bonaventure because it helps keep the team hungry," Portland said.

The Lady Lions' best performance over the break came in their victory against the Lady Illini. Penn State came from a 10-point deficit to defeat Illinois, and the team was saved by a facet of the game that has killed them at times this season -- free-throw shooting. The Lady Lions hit 13 of 14 free throws in the last five minutes of the game and 25 of 26 overall to seal the victory. Sophomore Tanya Garner scored a season-high 21 points and handed out six assists against the Lady Illini.

"Illinois was a real solid game for us," Portland said. "We can use a game like that to build on in the future. We played very well."

The Lady Lions had no problems in beating up on St. Bonaventure, but the team didn't fare nearly as well in its games against some of the top teams in the country. Purdue jumped out to an early 19-3 lead and used a full-court press to suffocate the Lady Lion offense.

Penn State exploded early in its game against Virginia, racing out to a 20-4 lead and holding a 47-42 lead at halftime. But the Lady Cavaliers managed to turn it on in the second half and the Lady Lions, plagued by turnovers, were not able to stay with Virginia down the stretch. Freshman Susan Robinson led the Lady Lions with 17 points and eight rebounds, and Garner added 16 points.

The Lady Lions were able to extend West Virginia into overtime, but the Lady Mountaineers, the surprise team of the Atlantic 10, managed to hold off Penn State in the extra period.

St Joe's used the tandem of forward Kim Foley and center Dale Hodges to defeat the Lady Lions. The two combined for 57 points and kept the Lady Lions from making a serious run at St. Joe's in the second half. The Lady Hawks went in at the half leading by four and blew the game open in the second half, taking an 18-point lead with 5:31 to play in the game and holding on for the final 14-point margin of victory.

St. Joe's Coach Jim Foster said even though the Lady Lions aren't playing as well as teams in the past, they still have many of the qualities of a typical Penn State team.

"I've coached against Rene Portland for years now, and I know that the game isn't over until the buzzer sounds," Foster said. "They did what they had to do at the end to give themselves a chance to win, and that's the sign of a well-coached team."

The play of Foley and Hodges somewhat overshadowed the excellent game Robinson enjoyed on Saturday. Robinson finished with 28 points, the highest total in her brief collegiate career.

"Susan's play was a step in the right direction," Portland said after the game. "That was the first game that Susan gave us a total game. She's a class act, a great ballplayer. She's the best that West Virginia's got, and I'm glad we've got her."

The Lady Lions saw their Atlantic 10 record fall to 1-2 after the losses to West Virginia and St. Joseph's.

"West Virginia starts all seniors that have played for four years," Portland said. "St. Joe's has the same team as last year except for Debbie Brooks. I knew something was wrong when we were ranked third in the A-10 this year when we have only one starter returning, especially since with McConnell we were ranked fourth in one year and sixth in another."

The Lady Lions received some bad news when Shelly Caplinger, a 5-8 junior guard, decided to take a leave of absence from school for personal reasons. However, Portland said Caplinger is expected to return this season and will be welcomed back to the team.

The loss of Caplinger means the Lady Lions are down to only 10 players, although the team will be helped in practice by the return of Stefeni Thomas, who left the team after last season. Thomas was readmitted to school this semester, and Portland said Thomas will begin practicing with the team today and will be redshirted for this season.

Although the Lady Lions have had a tough start to their season, Portland said she plans to let the team play itself out of its mistakes instead of trying to shake things up.

"We're not going to change anything," Portland said. "We're going to use all 10 players. Lynn (Dougherty) and Terri (Williams) and Kathy (Phillips) will all see playing time. I'm confident with these 10 kids.

"A lot of our problems are caused by mental mistakes," she said. "We've just struggled with our concentration all season. We're 11 games old now. The team is starting to gel and get into the swing of things. We're going to play games every three days and keep right at it."