About 100 loyal Rutgers supporters made the trip from New Brunswick, N.J., to Rec Hall on Saturday night, hoping to see Theresa Grentz's 300th career victory as the coach of the Lady Knights. They got what they came for, as Rutgers cruised, 88-72.

But Telicher Austin stole the limelight from her coach with a show-stopping performance. Which was fine with Grentz.

"She can steal my show any night," the beaming coach said.

Austin was, to put it simply, unstoppable. The 5-9 senior scored 35 points on 17 of 25 shooting from the field, pulled down five rebounds, picked off four steals, and even blocked two shots. She made it look effortless, nailing 18-foot jumpers, cruising in for fast-break layups, putting in offensive rebounds. And there was nothing the Lady Lions could do to stop her.

"I really felt good today," Austin said. "Before the game I was thinking about the last two years when we came here, we lost. But this year, my senior year, I wanted to go out with a win, plus I wanted to get this win for Theresa for her 300th win."

Coach Rene Portland gave Tanya Garner, her best defensive player, the assignment on Austin to open the game. Austin escaped the speedy Garner by leading her through a series of picks to break into the open.

Austin drilled several outside jumpers by releasing her shot a split-second before Garner was able to fight her way through the interference. Garner came close, so close, but Austin always got her shot off, and they always seemed to go in. Austin finished with 18 first-half points, hitting nine of her 12 shots.

Susan Robinson tried her hand at guarding Austin on one trip down the floor. Robinson is bigger and stronger inside than Austin, and looked to have a better chance at stopping Austin's deadly outside shooting than the 5-7 Garner.

Austin took the ball, saw the 6-1 Robinson guarding her, and blew past the freshman for an easy lay-up. In the battle between height and quickness, quickness won hands down.

The Lady Lions next set up in a zone defense. Austin kept hitting her outside shots, kept driving in for layups, kept killing the Penn State defense. The Penn State players couldn't be everywhere at once, and that's where Austin seemed to be -- everywhere.

Austin said the changing Penn State defenses didn't make her change her game.

"I really don't think about what's around me," Austin said. "I just play. I think I'm getting better each game."

Penn State moved to a full-court press, a defense that has been very effective for the Lady Lions in the past few games. The press didn't even slow Austin down. Several times Austin took the inbounds pass, dribbled the length of the court through the entire Penn State defense, and either set up a teammate for an easy hoop or took the shot herself.

"It seems like it's always been like that. There was always someone above me, and I was just in the background," Austin said. "People still overlook me, and I'm here to show them."

Austin has excelled since her freshman year, when she was selected as the Atlantic 10 Freshman of the Year. But she had to live in the shadow of All-American Sue Wicks, and only now has Austin taken her place as the star and the leader of the Lady Knights.

"There's been so much hubbub about Sue Wicks that people have forgotten the players that supported her," Grentz said. "One of those players was Telicher Austin . . . and (she's) not the kind of (person) you can forget about. Believe me."

The Lady Lions are certainly believers now. Short of kidnapping Austin before the game, there was nothing much the Lady Lions could have done to stop her. She had one of those nights when everything is clicking, when nothing can go wrong.

"She had a tremendous game," Portland said. "Everybody now realizes that she's the king pin of that program. We do not, even to this moment, feel we have anyone who can play her. She is deceivingly quick, she has a good hard first step, has a great outside shot and she's a good penetrator. We didn't feel we were in a position that we could one-up on her."

If Austin gets any better the other teams in the A-10 are in big, big trouble. And to be fair to the Lady Lions, probably no one in the country could have stopped Austin Saturday night. The Penn State players can only hope Austin returns to earth when the two teams play again March 4 in New Jersey.