A late comeback fell three seconds short for the women's basketball team last night when forward Susan Robinson lost the ball between three St. Joseph's defenders, sealing a 66-62 heartbreaker at Rec Hall.

"She had some clutch plays down the stretch," said Coach Rene Portland about Robinson, who ended the game with a team-high 22 points. "Obviously at the end of the game they knew we had to go to her, that we had to go to the kid who was going to go in nice and strong and possibly get herself on the foul line. We weren't going for three points and the win, we were going for two."

With three seconds remaining and Penn State down 64-62 with the ball, Robinson received took the inbounds near the foul line. The freshman spun to her right, but three St. Joe's defenders combined to strip the ball away. Dale Hodges, who paced the Lady Hawks all evening, canned two free throws with one second left, giving St. Joe's the four-point win.

The Lady Lions (5-9) saw their chances for victory begin to slip away late in the game after Rita Balaban, who had missed five of her first six 3-point shots, nailed a pair in just two minutes to put St. Joe's (11-2) up 62-56 with 3:47 remaining.

Robinson, however, answered with a running lay-up that drew a foul from Hodges, and after the conversion the score stood at 62-59. Hodges tipped in a missed shot to extend the Lady Hawks' lead to five, but Chill buried a 3-pointer to cut the St. Joe's lead to 64-62.

What followed was a play that could have dramatically changed the game, but instead crushed the Lady Lions' hopes. After a Penn State miss, St. Joe's tried to bring the ball upcourt, but Tanya Garner cut in front of guard Ellen Shields and batted the ball away, opening up the court for an easy lay-up.

Shields returned the favor by inadvertently entangling her legs with Garner's, sending both players to the floor.

The officials did not call a foul on Shields, and a perfect chance to tie the game fell by the wayside. What made the non-call even more controversial was that Dana Eikenberg was called for a foul on a similar play in the first half.

"I thought it was (a foul)," Garner said. "I thought when Shields was on the ground she intentionally blocked me. In a way it was (frustrating), but in my mind I knew I had to keep on playing. You can't worry about what the officials are calling, because they're doing their job and I have to do mine."

Garner managed to get to the ball after re-gaining her balance, but Foley got back in time to block Garner's game-tying attempt. Garner missed a second shot, and Chill and Adrie DeVries dove on the ball to give the Lady Lions control on the change-of-possession, setting up the final play.

St. Joe's took a 36-27 lead into the half on the strength of its defense, which forced 16 first half turnovers. The Lady Lions were able to keep center Hodges and forward Kim Foley from dominating in the first 10 minutes of the game. But Foley found her range late in the first half, scoring eight of her 14 points in the last five minutes to give the Lady Hawks' their largest lead of the game at intermission. Hodges also came alive after a slow start, finishing with nine points in the half and 25 points and 16 rebounds on the game.

The Lady Lions came out roaring in the second half, ripping off an 18-4 run that gave them a 45-42 lead. Tanya Garner boosted Penn State with a steal and lay-up, and Robinson and Chill both went on a tear at the same time. Robinson scored eight points and Chill six in that stretch, which lasted until the 13:12 mark.

St. Joe's survived that charge, though, re-taking the lead at 46-45. After that, Hodges really went to work on the offensive boards. The Lady Lions were able to keep the Lady Hawks from working the ball inside to Hodges, but the 6-1 center was unstoppable underneath, finishing with nine offensive rebounds.

Although Hodges and Foley keyed the Lady Hawk victory, they received help at instrumental times.

"Their outside shooting helped them," Portland said. "They hit three 3-pointers down the stretch, and that's major league concentration. They were just extremely patient. They knew who their money players are, and they went to them."