It was the last thing Helen Holloway needed. The co-captain of the women's basketball team, already playing with bum knees, must have had back pain as the Lady Lions came from behind to beat Kansas 85-68 in an NCAA Midwest second-round game on Saturday.

"Bottom line is, we got on Helen Holloway's back and rode it," Coach Rene Portland said. "Very similar to the Vanderbilt game when she went off and we just rode it out. She responded to the challenge that was given to her."

The top-seeded Lady Lions (27-2) struggled with ninth-seeded Kansas (22-6), led by junior forward Angela Aycock's 27 points. At halftime, the Lady Lions trailed 40-37. The Lady Lions had never been tied or trailing at halftime in Rec Hall all season.

For seven minutes in the second half, the two teams couldn't break away from each other as the Lady Lions closed the gap. Then came the shot heard round the world. Shelby Thayer clocked in with a trey that put the Lady Lions up 51-49, giving them their first lead in nine minutes of play.

"If we had a game ball to give, we'd give it to Shelby," Portland said. "Those three points brought the house down and really made Kansas think, 'Oh my God, they've got another one waiting for us.' "

Thayer's trey was part of a 29-7 Lady Lion run, and Penn State suddenly found itself up 75-56. The second-round jinx that plagued the Lady Lions five times since 1987 was over. That's when the Jayhawk frustration started to show.

"It's obvious, in my opinion, that the game was certainly won at the free-throw line," Kansas Coach Marian Washington said. "The game was physical. Very physical."

So physical that three Jayhawks -- guards Ericka Muncy and Tamecka Dixon and forward Jennifer Trapp -- fouled out. Kansas had a total of 31 personal fouls. Aycock said she felt the pressure to step up for her "out-of-sync" team.

"I was just fortunate to have a lot of the shots fall for me," she said. "I rushed a lot of shots, but that happens when your team is not flowing."

Impressive as Aycock was, Holloway answered with a career-high 27 points of her own. Sophomore guard Tina Nicholson added 20, while junior guard Katina Mack had 18.

"I feel like an old lady right now," Holloway said after the game. "I felt (Trapp) was a little smaller than I was, and I could take her to the basket. We just ran the play where they could give me the ball, and I just took advantage of the situation."

Co-captain Jackie Donovan wasn't as fortunate. The senior guard went 0-for-9 from the field, including 0-for-5 from three-point range. Portland looked to junior guard Carla Coleman to step up.

"Jackie was really struggling on Aycock," Portland said. "(Aycock) can penetrate, but her jumpers were really what was killing us. Jackie was playing her for the drive, and we tried to change that mind set, and it didn't work."

The Lady Lions now travel to Austin, Texas, for the Regionals. On Thursday, they will face Seton Hall, which beat Texas, 71-66, in the second round Saturday.