PHILADELPHIA -- Jim Foster was mad.

At the 16:59 mark of the first half in Saturday's Atlantic 10 women's basketball final between top-seeded Penn State and No. 6 St. Joseph's, the Hawks' coach had to call a timeout to stop the onslaught heaped upon him and his team.

The Lady Lions led 8-0 and Foster let his squad know -- with words and gestures -- that its start was not what was expected. After the break, the "talk" didn't work as PSU scored five more points before center Wendy Brink hit a short turnaround junper. Its slow start was too much for St. Joe's to overcome.

Riding that 13-point beginning, No. 1 Penn State rode out the rest of the game for a 78-63 victory, won its sixth A-10 crown in as many final attempts (of the nine years the conference has had a postseason tournament) and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Lady Lions upped their record to 29-1 while St. Joseph's dropped to 18-12.

"I guess that was the difference between a developing team and a team that's there -- and they're obviously there," Foster said. "We'd love to have those first five minutes back; actually we'd love to have the shots back."

In that first 5:52, Brink, guard Katie Curry and forward Rita Balaban were misfiring, mishandling and misplaying their slow-down, set-it-up offense. Meanwhile, Penn State came out ready from the tip, with the triumverate of center Kathy Phillips, forward Shelly Caplinger and guard Dana Eikenberg ready, trading the team's first seven baskets.

Phillips started the rout with a 15-foot shot from the foul line. Her fist went up in the air. Caplinger hit a shot from the right corner, followed by Eikenberg's two free throws. Caplinger struck again for a short jumper, then Phillips went inside for a layup. Eikenberg's 3-pointer brought pumping fists from PSU's point guard, a standing, cheering bench and shouting from the mostly biased Lady Lion crowd of 2,667.

"We got out to such a great start early," Coach Rene Portland said. "Then we were very patient -- when we were up 10, we thought it was a good situation."

For the Hawks, it was a worst-case scenario. In a 70-64 loss at Penn State Feb. 9, the visitors led at halftime, 32-30. And in the regular-season rematch on March 2, it was only 31-25 for PSU at halftime. This time around, the deficit was too much from the outset.

"It was probably an emotional letdown, but we definitely weren't scared," Curry said. "It was frustrating because the shots were there. It wasn't like last night (in a 72-61 win over No. 2 seed Rutgers) when everything we shot went in."

St. Joe's slowly climbed back into the contest, but never really challenged the Lady Lions. Whenever the Hawks would cut into the lead or try to make a run, Penn State would answer with a spurt of their own. The closest the host school got was eight points, 33-25, after Balaban hit a 20-footer.

But the first half belonged to Eikenberg. She totaled 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, had two assists and one steal. With forward Susan Robinson and guard Tanya Garner (two points apiece) not in the offense, Eikenberg stepped up and gave the Lady Lions the start they needed.

"My job is to set up the shooters, but when I get into a flow, I just go with it," she said. "When we get into the transition game and the kick the ball up quickly, the other teams forget about the last person (coming up the court); sometimes I'm left wide open."

In the second half, Robinson and Garner began hitting their shots and Penn State was never truly threatened. All St. Joe's had to look forward to was a Balaban three-point play that cut the lead to 12 with 7:48 remaining. After a jump ball went back to the Hawks, Robinson hit two layups and was 5-of-6 from the foul line in the next five minutes to stave off any belated comeback attempts.

In almost every category, the Lady Lions showed their strength -- outrebounding St. Joe's, 38-22, and hitting 52 percent from the floor, compared to 42 for the Hawks.

Eikenberg finished with 18 points; Robinson had 15; Phillips finished with 14; Garner had 11 and reserve center Tina Henry had 10. Balaban led all scorers with 19 and Curry had 17.