The women's gymnastics team has been trying to focus on process, not outcome.

Yet despite their recent wins, Coach Judi Avener said the Lady Lions (8-1) cannot afford to relax when they compete against rival Pittsburgh (4-4) at 8 tomorrow night in their third home meet this season.

"We're trying hard not to pay attention to the score and whether we win or lose; we're really trying hard to focus on 'Did you get your arms straight when you were supposed to? Did you stick your landing on your dismount? Are you thinking about what your supposed to be thinking about to affect your own performance, and let the chips fall where they may?' " Avener said.

For the last few weeks, Penn State has been working on its "cues," the skills that make up their routines, not the routines as a whole.

That philosophy has worked so far.

The Lady Lions, ranked No. 8 nationally, set their highest score in team history twice this season -- a 189.5 a month ago in Alabama and a 191.5 last weekend at Ohio State.

"They feel that they can't take Pitt for granted even though the statistics would indicate that we should," Avener said.

"We've never really had any problem beating them before," Lynn Crane added, "but we're looking at them as being one of the top teams to keep our performance level up."

Penn State leads Pitt 26-1 in the series which began in 1966.

Avener said the Lady Lions respect Pitt because no matter at what level the gymnasts perform, they usually hit their events. She added Pitt is a clean team.

The Lady Lions have another reason for wanting to perform well this weekend.

"The collective feeling is more that we've disappointed our fans and ourselves so much at home this season that we don't want to let them down," Avener said. "We want to do well in Rec Hall."

Avener said the gymnasts are more relaxed in competition and feel more confident in themselved and their routines.

"We never really had any confidence before. Our coaches had it we didn't," Crane said.

Even though the Lady Lions are better psychologically prepared for tomorrow's meet, Avener said a few gymnasts are still struggling with the flu.

Avener has not determined tomorrow's lineup but may decide to rest a few people. She said she is thinking about taking April Polito out of the meet because of a sore knee.