The eighth-ranked Maryland basketball team used a ball-hawking defense and 20 points from freshman guard Sue Panek to easily defeat Penn State 87-53 in front of 1,731 fans last night at Rec Hall.

The Lady Lions, who lost their fourth straight game and saw their record fall to 3-8, were never able to make a serious run at the Lady Terrapins, who got back on track after seeing their national ranking fall from fifth to eighth after a loss to Clemson last week.

Penn State managed to stay within 10 points of Maryland through the first half, but each time the Lady Lions got the score into single digits Maryland picked up the tempo and pulled away. Panek kept the visitors in command by scoring 16 of her points in the first half.

The Lady Lions were able to cut the Maryland lead to 35-28 with 2:44 left in the first half, but the Lady Terps scored 10 points in those two minutes for a 47-32 lead at intermission.

Maryland picked up where it left off in the second half, outscoring Penn State 18-6 through the first 6:21 of the half to put the game away early.

Penn State managed to keep All-American forward and former Olympian Vicky Bullett and center Christy Winters under control for much of the first half, but the outside shooting of Panek destroyed the defensive game plan of Coach Rene Portland.

"We went out with the philosophy that we had to do something about Bullett, and we did that, I mean Bullett had two points with nine minutes gone in the half," Portland said. "And then this kid Panek decides to go off. The defense served the purpose of shutting down Winters and Bullett, and we just had to take a chance on they're outside shooting, and that kid came to play."

The marksmanship of Panek did open up the inside for Bullett, who finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Guard Carla Holmes scored 19 points with seven rebounds and dished out eight assists, and Winters added 10 points and five rebounds.

The other big star for the Lady Terrapins was guard Deanna Tate, who finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and seven steals. It was Tate who keyed the Maryland defense which held the Lady Lions to only 39 percent shooting for the game, forced 24 turnovers and came up with 16 steals. Maryland also outrebounded the Lady Lions, 42-27. The Lady Terps were simply quicker than Penn State, and that concerns Portland.

"(We) should pick up the pace of our defense and offense," Portland said. "I've been questioning (our) speed since I watched (us) at St Joe's. (We're) too mechanical and too slow, and it stands out like a sore thumb against a team like Maryland."

Penn State was led offensively by forwards Tiffany Chill and Susan Robinson, who each scored 19 points, but that was about the extent of the Penn State offense. Guard Tanya Garner missed all five of her field goal attempts and finished with only one point, center Adrie DeVries finished with four points, and the point guard tandem of Dana Eikenberg and Dawn Chambers combined for only six points. The Lady Lions were only able to score 21 points in the second half, with 17 of those coming from Chill and Robinson.

"We were pressing it," Portland said about her offense. "Tiffany had a fine game, Tanya was certainly taken out of it, and I think she was taken out of it more by herself than by anything else. Susan Robinson came to play again for another night. The shots were there, and we were either too anxious or too nervous.

"Tiffany is going to be fine, Sue Robinson is going to be fine, and we had Tanya there for awhile, but we lost her tonight," Portland said. "They just have to keep plugging away. We have to hold onto those three and go after the rest of them."

The Lady Lions don't have much time to recover from last night's loss. The team plays Atlantic 10 Conference foe Massachusetts tomorrow night at six at Rec Hall, and Penn State must also face A-10 opponents Rhode Island and St. Joseph's during the week.

"We're very concerned about the kids' confidence level, and they have to give it more," Portland said. "The only way to get out of this cycle is to keep working. But it does hurt. We have to see how low they have to go before they come back fighting. It certainly is a low time in the program."

"I think what Rene is saying is the truth," Chill said. "It's all fundamentals. It's rebounding, defense, turnovers, and the little things. I think it's just that we don't have the confidence"

Portland said she doesn't plan to do anything different in preparation for the three games upcoming, but she said it doesn't matter that the team has to play so soon after such a tough loss.

"I think you have to let the fog go away before I start thinking about what I want to do," Portland said. "Right now we're all in a fog.

"I really wish we had some solid practice time, but the kids have to give us individual time," she said. "Right now they have to give it more, everybody has to give it more."