Intense practice, hard work and confidence are what helped the women's gymnastics team score a 186.85 and win its seventh consecutive Atlantic 10 title Saturday at George Washington University.

"It felt great," team captain Debbie O'Brien said. "It was even more of a big thing this time because of all the low points that we just got over this season."

"It was really exciting," sophomore Kira Rohm added. "We had been working really hard in practice for the past two to three weeks and so when we walked into that arena, we knew that we had a job to do. There was a lot of energy, a lot of team spirit, and a lot of excitement."

West Virginia took second place in the meet with a 185.55. Temple had a team score of 184.30 for third.

The Lady Lions began their first rotation on the uneven bars. Rohm took first place with a 9.65. Right behind her was sophomore Lynn Crane, who tied for second (9.60). Freshman Jada Hiltabrand and O'Brien tied for fifth place with 9.40s.

"We started out on the bars with a really good start," said Rohm, who was named to the all-conference team on the uneven bars. "(Prior to the meet) Deb O'Brien had been struggling with her bar routine, so the minute that she hit her set and her score came up, it really set the ball rolling."

Penn State made a complete turnaround in the beam competition. After months of wobbles and falls, the team put itself together and registered five solid routines. The team scored an impressive 47.1, and broke a Penn State record of 46.65 that was set in 1985.

"We had the hardest beam practices this past week," O'Brien said. "They were the hardest practices that I've ever had here at Penn State, but they helped out a lot."

O'Brien scored a career-high 9.55 to put her into first place and into the Penn State record book. Freshman Kim Thrasher and Lynn Crane took second and third with scores of 9.5 and 9.45, respectively.

"The beam routines were great," added Rohm. "After the beam routines, we knew that we had won the meet. Everyone worked so aggressively and you could just see it on their faces. All the hard work, all the repetitions and all the perfect routines in practice finally paid off."

In the floor exercise, Crane took second with a 9.55. Thrasher tied for third with a 9.35 and O'Brien tied for fourth with a 9.3.

On the vault, Thrasher scored a 9.5 to put her into second place. O'Brien and Crane tied for third with 9.35s. Thrasher was named to the all-conference team on the vault.

In the all-around, Crane - another Lady Lion who garnered all-conference honors - and West Virginia's Yvette Clark tied for first with 37.95. O'Brien took second with 37.60, and Thrasher tied for third with 37.40.

"We knew that we worked harder than we did all season and that's what we were leaning on. We were confident," O'Brien said.

The Lady Lions have two more weeks of practice to prepare for the NCAA Northeast Regionals, which will be held April 1 at Rec Hall.

"We are going to have to do more than we think during these two weeks," O'Brien said. "Our practices will be just as hard -- or harder.

"We have to hit and be perfect at Regionals in order to win. If we do that, and keep our confidence, we can do it."