OLEAN, N.Y.-- A little over two minutes into the second half of Saturday's women's basketball game with St. Bonaventure, the Lady Bonnies' made a move. Guard Beth Gromlowicz sank an 18-footer and then Sue Shay nailed a layup and St. Bonaventure cut the Lady Lion lead to 49-44.

Penn State called a timeout and the small but rowdy Olean crowd was in an uproar. Could the unranked Lady Bonnies upset the No. 2 team in the nation? Were they making this impossible dream a reality?

But Penn State quickly turned the dream into a nightmare as a patented Lady Lion run ruined the Lady Bonnies' hopes. The Penn State lead, which was four at 17:40, was 63-50 at 13:24 after Susan Robinson hit a 13-foot jumper.

"We got it to four and that's when I think the depth and the talent really started to show," St. Boanventure coach Mary Jane Telford said.

And just five minutes later, the lead was 81-62 after Helen Holloway put back a layup. And that was all for St. Bonaventure; the team fought valiantly but eventually succumbed, 102-73. Penn State continued on its road to Bourbon Street while the Lady Bonnies fell to 10-8 and could only think about what might have been.

"This year St. Bonaventure has made some strides, down at Penn State we played very aggressively and it was a tight game and up here we played aggressively," Telford said. "And it's disappointing to have the final score be 30 points because it wasn't a 30-point ball game."

St. Bonaventure was in a similar situation when it played at Rutgers last Tuesday. The team was close but ended up losing to No. 9 Rutgers, 66-55.

"We played well against two Top 10 teams and against Rutgers we legitimately had a chance to win that game and if we make our free throws we win that ball game," Telford said.

The Lady Bonnies also made a run in the first half but could not get the lead. They kept getting close, and with one minute before the intermission the Penn State lead was just nine, but the Lady Bonnies couldn't break through the deep and talented Penn State team.

"Bonaventure didn't put their heads down," Coach Rene Portland said.

"I was pleased with the effort we put forth, but we certainly knew that we were going to have our work cut out for us," Telford said. "We dug ourselves a hole early but our kids didn't give up and we came back at them."

Telford said when her players tried to double-team Robinson or Kathy Phillips, Penn State just kicked the ball to either Dana Eikenberg or Lynn Dougherty for the shot.

The Lady Bonnies, however, did have a moral victory against Penn State. They outrebounded the Lady Lions, 36-26. It was the first time that Penn State has been outrebounded all season.

The leading scorers for St. Bonaveture were Jodi Urich (18), Gromlowicz (12), Shay (10) and Vachelle Manly (10).

"We are making the good strides and that is something that we feel we have to do," Telford said. "We need to beat somebody that we haven't beaten before."