MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Last year it would have lost.

In its first close game of the season, the women's basketball team needed Dana Eikenberg's clutch 3-point shot with 11 seconds remaining to finish a gutsy second half comeback and defeat West Virginia, 73-71, Saturday at the Coliseum.

"This is a game we wouldn't have won last year," Lynn Dougherty said. "(With) our work and expectations, we should be winning these games."

With just 22 seconds to go, it looked as if the Lady Mountaineers (10-6) finally had the game under control. Leading 71-70, forward Donna Abbott, a 71 percent free throw shooter, went to the line after an Eikenberg turnover.

When her shot clanked off the iron, the No. 18 Lady Lions (13-3) pulse was still beating. Coach Rene Portland said that either Eikenberg or Shelly Caplinger was to shoot the ball. It was Eikenberg who found the opening.

"I didn't have time to think about it," Eikenberg said. "I just caught it and put it up."

It was all net.

"If she (Abbott) misses it," Susan Robinson said, "then we were going to go down and score and we did. Dana hit it. She was wide open, why not take a three? That's not a very far shot anymore."

"That was a good shot," Lady Mountaineer guard Rosemary Kosiorek said. "I was caught between two people; the ball was passed down to the wing and I tried to get down to guard her. I couldn't get back in time. That was my fault, but she made it under pressure."

The Lady Mountaineers had one final chance with four seconds remaining, but forward Lori Wilson's inbound pass was stolen by Robinson. The win gives Penn State a league-leading 7-0 Atlantic 10 record. West Virginia drops to 4-3.

"There with seven seconds left I wanted us to take it down and score," West Virginia coach Scott Harrelson said. "I didn't want to call timeout; I didn't want Penn State to set up their defense."

West Virginia led almost the entire game, having as much as a 12-point lead with 18 minutes to go. The Lady Lions continued to cut the lead, but West Virginia kept fighting them off.

An Adrie DeVries layup off a Dawn Chambers steal reduced the margin to one, 63-62, with 6:30 remaining. But in a matter of minutes, West Virginia's lead was back up to 71-64.

Down the stretch, missed free throws, turnovers and errant shots prevented the Lady Mountaineers from pulling away.

"The whole game, we chopped it down," Eikenberg said. "(We thought) we can't get 11 points in one possession. We have to get it one at a time."

Portland said that Tanya Garner (eight second-half points) and Dougherty's shooting enabled the Lady Lions to hang within striking distance. Also, the team switched defenses, confusing the home team.

Dougherty finished with 15 points and had three critical blocks. She also forced a "held ball" call that stopped another Lady Mountaineers' scoring opportunity. Robinson had 14 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Center Kathy Phillips gathered double figures in rebounds (10) and DeVries scored 10 points off the bench.

Abbott scored 17 points for West Virginia and star-guard and sophomore captain Kosiorek had 15 points, but only three in the second half. Tracy Slogik also contributed 15 points.

After a close opening 12 minutes, West Virginia used an 11-4 run to open an 11-point lead. Penn State shot only 30 percent in the first half.

"(In the first half) we thought we were doing exactly what we needed to do," Kosiorek said. "We were playing hard defense, we limited them to 31 points, I think we did everything we needed to do."

One of the only bright spots in the first half was the Lady Lions' 16 offensive rebounds, a statistic Portland said was, "the best we've ever done on the boards." Penn State won the rebounding game, 53-38, only one short of its season-high.

"West Virginia is a scrappy team and they probably should have the basketball game. (But) our kids down the stretch hit good shots," Portland said.

With hardly a chance to catch its breath, the team will face Duquesne tonight at 7:30 in Rec Hall. On Jan. 4, the Lady Lions whipped the Duchesses, 94-54, in Pittsburgh.