With 3:28 left in the first half, St. Joseph's forward Wendy Brink hit a six-foot baseline jumper and the Hawks had the lead at 24-22.

There was a sense of disbelief among the 4,188 fans who had turned out to see the game at Rec Hall on Saturday night.

At the 1:49 mark, Hawk Katie Curry hit a 3-pointer and the lead was up to 30-24. The stunned crowd sat in silence as St. Joe's was upsetting the No. 2 team in the nation.

However, the women's basketball team regrouped, and led by five Shelly Caplinger points down the stretch went into the half down by just two, 32-30. The Lady Lions used that momentum to down St. Joe's, 70-64, for their 25th straight home win.

For 20 minutes, the St. Joe's basketball team had done everything right. Coach Jim Foster's defensive changeups held Susan Robinson to just four first-half points, all on free throws. Brink was on fire, hitting for 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

"Something transpired between Saturday and Monday when we played Temple and I, for the first time this year, feel comfortable walking into the gym and coaching this basketball team," Foster said.

The question was could St. Joseph's (12-9 and 6-6 in the Atlantic 10) keep it up. After all, Saturday had been a day of upsets in women's basketball. No. 6 North Carolina State lost to Maryland, 86-85, and No. 9 Rutgers lost to pesky George Washington, 77-68.

But the Lady Lions (20-1 and 11-1) had no intention of making the dubious upset list, using a strong second half to gut out the win.

"(There's) no such thing as a moral victory. First thing I said when I walked in the locker room was, 'Do not be satisfied,' " Foster said.

"In the first half, they started to rag on each other but in the second half we stuck together," Coach Rene Portland said. "We are happy to take the win, it has been three tough wins in five days."

"We felt like it we weren't doing anything they were coming out and doing a great job running their offense," Dana Eikenberg said.

Penn State started early in the second half, and after Kathy Phillips hit a 15-foot turnaround jumper, the Lady Lions had the lead at 35-32. But St. Joe's was hanging tough and the Hawks regained the lead again, 38-35, after two Brink layups.

Slowly and purposefully, the Lady Lions began to get control of the game. They regained the lead after a Robinson layup, 41-38 and after Phillips hit a free throw, the Lady Lions held their biggest lead of the game thus far, 45-40 with 12:09 left.

Penn State got some key minutes from senior Terri Williams in the second half, who played tough defense and scored four points.

"Terri came out and hit a shot, got some rebounds and played some great defense on Anderson," Portland said.

After trading hoops, Penn State increased the lead to six, after a Dana Eikenberg 3-pointer and to nine after another Eikenberg trey, with 8:23 left.

But St. Joe's still did not quit and challenged the Lady Lions one more time at the end.

With 2:13 left in the game, Penn State had the lead at 64-59. That's when the final Hawk run began with Cindy Anderson hitting a trey, to cut the lead to 64-62.

But that was as close as St. Joe's could get as Penn State hit all six of their free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.

Brink led all scorers with 25 points while Garner (17), Robinson (15) and Phillips (13) led the Lady Lions. St. Joe's might have been fatigued down the stretch, playing only six players the entire game. Anderson, Brink and Curry played the entire game while Rita Balaban played 39 minutes.

Penn State hits the road again after the three-game homestand when it goes to McGonigle Hall at 7 p.m. tonight to face Temple.