The game itself wasn't a work of art, but freshman Kathy Phillips' performance was picture-perfect last night as the women's basketball team defeated West Virginia, 70-61, in a hotly contested game in front of 1,217 fans at Rec Hall.

The Lady Lions improved their record to 8-10 while WVU fell to 13-5. More importantly, Penn State was able to move into a tie for fourth place with the Lady Mountaineers in the Atlantic 10 race, as both teams now sport 6-4 A-10 records.

"Everybody has to learn from this game and be excited," Coach Rene Portland said. "This is a big win for this program, and this was a big win for the conference standing. We should be in the locker room celebrating."

Phillips poured in 24 points and ripped down 17 rebounds, the second straight game she has finished with double-figures in points and rebounds. The finest game of Phillips' short career helped offset 26 Lady Lion turnovers and 18 fouls, fatal mistakes under normal circumstances.

But the Lady Mountaineers fared no better in the sloppiness department, turning the ball over 23 times and committing 24 fouls. Fifteen of those fouls were called on West Virginia's top three scorers, Jenny Hillen, Judy Eaton and Rosemary Kosiorek. All three fouled out, with Hillen disqualified at the 8:32 mark, Eaton with 3:36 left and Kosiorek with 1:25 remaining.

The Lady Lions took advantage of the situation, nailing 23 of 24 free throws. Dana Eikenberg completed two one-and-one situations in the final 1:25 to seal the victory, and both Phillips and Eikenberg finished the game six for six from the line.

Those free throws were the margin of victory, since neither team shot well from the floor. Penn State shot only 37.1 percent from the field, and West Virginia finished 37.0 percent. WVU made only two of 14 3-point shots, and Penn State hit just one of eight.

The first half of the game was not a thing of beauty to watch. Missed passes, dribbles out of bounds, and cheap fouls hurt both teams, but through the mess Phillips came away with a dominating game. While Susan Robinson shot only one for six and Tiffany Chill one for four in the first half, Phillips kept the Lady Lions in the game, hitting six of seven shots and two free throws and grabbing eight rebounds.

Playing 31 minutes because Adrie DeVries' foot injury flared up before the game, Phillips also kept West Virginia in line with her physical play after the two teams began mixing it up between whistles.

"Certainly Kathy Phillips was the star of this game," Portland said. "She played with a lot of enthusiasm, she put her elbows out and she let a few kids have it."

"I knew I had to go in and do my job, and I think I did do a good job," Phillips said. "I felt a lot more confident going in and after I hit my first few shots I knew I was on."

Phillips' 14 first-half points enabled Penn State to take a 27-24 halftime lead, a lead Portland was surprised to have.

"We went into the half with the lead, and I tried to tell the kids we couldn't play that way and expect to lead a game ever again," Portland said.

The second half began the way the first did for the Lady Lions, with turnovers. West Virginia took a 39-35 lead with 13:48 left, but after that WVU's top scorers had to play in serious foul trouble. Penn State managed to come back and retake the lead as Robinson regained her scoring touch, scoring five straight points to give the Lady Lions a 46-43 lead.

Penn State maintained a five-point lead through the last 6:18, but the game deteriorated as the Lady Mountaineers' scrappy play sparked a few late shoving matches. West Virginia had committed a number of physical fouls, and a few scrambles for the ball quickly turned into wrestling matches.

But in the end the Lady Lions kept their cool and Phillips kept adding to her career-high totals. The Lady Mountaineers hurt themselves trying to intimidate Penn State, and Portland singled out Eikenberg in the Lady Lions' effort to get WVU in foul trouble.

"(Eikenberg) did a nice job of knowing where they were," Portland said. "They got a few steals off her in the game, but she did a nice job and used her head.

"Early in the season we would get kids in foul trouble, but we would never get them out of there," Portland said. "But (Assistant Coach) Annie (Troyan) has been telling the kids to go after them after they get in trouble."