Heading into Saturday's Big Ten clash with Purdue, Penn State Coach Rene Portland and the women's basketball team were well aware of Boilermaker center Leslie Johnson.

The 6-foot-1-inch sophomore was the 1993-94 National Freshman of the Year, guiding Purdue to the Final Four. She was also the the Boilermakers' most valuable player, averaging 18.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.

So Portland said that in order for the Lady Lions to be successful against Purdue Coach Lin Dunn's squad, stopping Johnson on the blocks would be key. But early in Penn State's 78-64 win in Rec Hall, Johnson couldn't be stopped.

Lady Lion center Stacey Hrivnak was assigned to guard Johnson from the opening tip, but the 6-foot-5-inch freshman was unable to contain Purdue's inside presence.

Johnson scored seven of the game's first nine points, giving the Boilermakers a sizeable advantage with 18:31 remaining in the opening stanza.

"Defensively, they went right at (Hrivnak)," Portland said. "(Johnson) was just a little bit too much for her to handle."

So Portland called a timeout. Once play resumed, Johnson disappeared -- along with Purdue's lead. Following Penn State's timeout, Johnson managed to score just eight points the rest of the game.

"Our post defense is not the greatest in the world," Portland said, "whether it's Leslie or anybody. We need two of our players to get the job done and that's what we did. We just did a more effective job of helping."

Behind strong guard play and improved defense in the post, Portland's team worked its way back into the game, taking a 41-29 lead into the locker room at the intermission.

"We started off great," Dunn said. "I thought, 'Boy, we're going to have a barn burner here.' And then we went into kind of a coma."

Even though Johnson finished Saturday's contest with 15 points and 10 rebounds, it wasn't enough.

"They were able to really just sag it in and make it that much more difficult for me to score," she said.