WORCESTER, Mass. -- All too often this season Coach Rene Portland has watched the women's basketball team press the dreaded panic button in the heat of a tight road game.

So when Holy Cross guard Meghan Sullivan's 3-pointer with 3:30 remaining in last night's game moved the Lady Crusaders (14-12) within a point of the Lady Lions, Portland saw familiar looks of doubt cross her players' faces.

But unlike the losses at Purdue, Tennessee, Texas and Rutgers, Portland saw the looks just briefly. Ninth-ranked Penn State scored 12 straight points -- eight off of free throws -- after Sullivan's trey and held Holy Cross to one point the rest of the way, defeating the Lady Crusaders at the Hart Center, 71-59.

Center Kathy Phillips led the Lady Lions (19-6) to their fourth straight win with a game-high 21 points. Dana Eikenberg and Lynn Dougherty chipped in 17 and 12 points, respectively, and hit some clutch jumpers.

"It was the first time in a long time that I've seen a panic look on their faces turn to a confident look," Portland said. "In the past, that panic look would just stay there and they would say, 'Someone's going to beat us.' "

But there would be no mention of a loss last night, at least not from Penn State's bench.

After Sullivan's trey, Susan Robinson went to work on a decisive run, canning a top-of-the-key deuce and a short jumper in the lane. Surprisingly, the consecutive baskets were Robinson's only points of the game -- a career low.

From there, the Lady Lions' pressure defense allowed Holy Cross only bad shots, turnovers and a single point.

Phillips and Eikenberg each connected on four free throws in four attempts in the final two minutes to ice the win.

"We haven't been in that many close games," Holy Cross Coach Bill Gibbons said. "We didn't make the big defensive stops or the big plays and we had a couple of key turnovers down the stretch.

"I had said this game would be a barometer for us. (Penn State) is a Final Four team in my opinion. They have all the ingredients. They made the big shots, they made the free throws and they made the big stops when they had to."

During a crucial three-minute, second-half stretch, the big shots belonged mostly to Dougherty.

When Beth Godfrey's one-handed jumper cut Penn State's lead to 46-45 with 11:26 remaining, Dougherty reentered the game and answered with a 3-pointer.

Dougherty squelched another mounting Lady Crusader threat via the trey with 6:22 to play, giving the Lady Lions a 54-48 lead.

Holy Cross guard Laurie Carson did answer Dougherty's 3-pointer with one of her own. But on Penn State's ensuing trip down the floor, Dougherty simply answered her back.

Dougherty, who watched the early part of the Lady Crusaders' second-half spurts from the bench, said she was just looking to ease the team's panic. Obviously, the treys did the trick.

"We looked kind of frazzled," Dougherty said. "There were 10 minutes to go and we were totally panicking. They were coming back and we were trading baskets.

"When I came in the game I heard one of the coaches tell me to look for my shot and I was like, 'All right.' "

But neither Dougherty nor the rest of the Lady Lions connected on a great many shots in the first half.

Penn State equalled its biggest lead of the first half, 24-16, with 10:39 to go before intermission. But after Helen Holloway's inside basket, the Lady Lions went on a five-minute scoring drought, allowing Holy Cross to cut the deficit to a field goal.

"They were playing good defense, they were pumped," Dougherty said. "It was just a matter of us putting our heads on, getting down to work and getting back to the basics."