In its 186.35-184.80 win over Ohio State Saturday night, the women's gymnastics team reached its highest score of the season and threw the Lady Buckeyes a curve ball in the form of sophomore Kim Thrasher.

The Lady Lions (6-1) rested Thrasher a month ago when they defeated the Lady Buckeyes with all-arounders Lynn Crane and Tracy Salvino. But, with the two sidelined by injuries, Thrasher took over as the team's No. 1 all-arounder and bumped out Ohio State's Debbie Black from the top spot by winning the all-around, with a 37.95. She also tied Crane for the third-highest Penn State score ever and a career high.

"Going into the meet, I don't think I was thinking score as much as I was thinking I need to be consistent and hit my routine," Thrasher said. "Because that is our key factor if we're going to win regionals, if we're going to beat Ohio State, we have to be consistent."

Thrasher won the floor exercise (9.55) and tied for first with teammate Kira Rohm and Black on uneven bars (9.5). Her lowest score was a 9.4, on vault. Since last week, she boosted her score by .70 on balance beam when she hit a 9.5 without any breaks.

"I had a little more faith in myself and in what I needed to do up there," Thrasher said of her beam routine. "I didn't let the pressure get to me, I didn't look out in the crowd . . . I kept my head where it needed to be."

Penn State grabbed a strong lead in the first event, the vault. Competing as the last Lady Lion on the vault and in her second run, Lisa Mallios matched the school record for the third time with a 9.7 on her front handspring front.

Penn State captured one-two-three on the vault. Following Mallios, Allison Barber placed second (9.6) and Carrie Arnesen and Paula Bright tied for third (9.5).

But Penn State had some consistency problems, particularly on the uneven bars and balance beam. Towards the beginning of both events, the Lady Lions broke in some of their routines, adding pressure to those performing later in the event.

"The kids at the end of the lineup, instead of really feeling the heat and falling apart . . . they rallied extremely well," Coach Judi Avener said.

After four breaks in the first three routines on beam, Avener gave the Lady Lions a pep talk.

"I just tried to remind them what they should be thinking about because it's really easy to get distracted," Avener said.

The pep talk must have worked, because not only did Barber then post a career high score of 9.65, but the Lady Lions' final gymnast, Rene Lyst, topped the event with a 9.7 and scored the second-highest balance beam score in Penn State history, tying Heidi Anderson.

"I was surprised by the score, but I did focus on hitting my routine so I didn't really worry about the score too much," Lyst said.

Lyst successfully performed a difficult beam pass called a triple series for the first time in competition this season. Last week, she broke twice in her routine, once in the triple series.

"I was more aggressive this week," Lyst said. "It was more of an intense competition so it made you be more focused on what you needed to do, because Ohio State's a big competitor for us. We have to hit."

Following Lyst and Barber, Lady Buckeye Claire Wilson captured third (9.6) on the beam.

Penn State suffered three falls on the uneven bars, which is usually Ohio State's best event. But, the Lady Buckeyes also had some trouble, with one break and two scores in the eight range.

"The tension on bars was horrendous. They knew they had to hit in order to have a chance to win," Avener said.

Seniors Kara Yagnesak and Caryn Close placed second and third behind the three-way tie between Rohm, Thrasher and Black.

On floor exercise, Paula Bright and Tracie Halstead combined for second place (9.5), followed by a four-way tie between Stephanie Penman, Wilson, Yagnesak and Lady Lion Laurie Russo.

Although Penn State led throughout the meet, the margin was usually not more than 1.5 points. Both teams improved their best score, Penn State by 1.40 and Ohio State by .65.

"It's a big boost for us," Thrasher said. "We feel like we made it over the barrier, we've been stuck in the 184 mark and I feel like . . . we're on the way to scoring 188's, 189's up there with the rest of the country."

"We wanted to break out of that 184 range," Coach Judi Avener said. "That was a goal. We wanted to beat Ohio State, but I think we succeeded in the goals, we just didn't succeed in the process. We didn't do what we needed to have done."