After losing its last two games on the road, the Penn State women's basketball team were energized and intense back in The Bryce Jordan Center yesterday, which meant Indiana was in for a long game.

The No. 13 Lady Lions (12-5, 4-2 Big Ten) built a 37-16 first half lead en route to a 89-68 victory because of a combination of tough defense and poor shooting from Indiana.

The Hoosiers (13-4, 4-2) shot just 14 percent in the first half, making just five of their 35 shots. Hoosiers junior Heather Cassady paced all Indiana scorers in the half with just four points.

"Penn State just really shoved it down our throat and took it at us," Indiana women's basketball coach Kathi Bennett said. "They were very ready. I don't think we were prepared to start. We got in early foul trouble and that hurt us.

"Penn State's defense was very good. I don't want to discredit that."

On the other side of the ball, five Lions had four or more points, with Lions freshman Kelly Mazzante leading the way with 12.

The second half was a different story. The Lions defense slacked and gave the Hoosiers several easy lay-ups. The Hoosiers continued to chip away at Penn State's lead, cutting it to as little as 12, but the Lions responded and refused to let the Hoosiers get any closer.

All five of the Lions starters finished the game in double-digits, with Mazzante and Lions junior Rashana Barnes each leading the team with 23, a career high for Barnes. Barnes also pulled down 15 rebounds, 10 from the offensive glass in helping the Lions to outrebound the Hoosiers by 20.

"I think we played much better offensively," Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland said. "We're back to the numbers we like. We didn't run a whole lot of stuff tonight."

One change made tonight was the reinsertion of Lions sophomore Ashley Luke into the starting lineup. Luke began the season as the starter, but then was pulled in favor of junior Katrena Carr. Portland said she made the move in fairness to Luke because she had pulled Luke after the Lions losses to Duke and Texas Tech.

"I thought Ashley did a good job, a very good job," Portland said.

The game was very tightly called, as evidenced by the combined 51 fouls and 52 free throws. Portland said that might have made a difference between this game and the previous two.

"They were calling stuff," she said. "This is the same team. You look at our stats at Illinois and at Michigan, there weren't 20 fouls called. You really have to look at that and try to get an explanation of why isn't there that kind of consistency.

"A foul is a foul."

Other players noted some other differences between the games.

"I think tonight we were much more patient," Mazzante said.

The Lions now get a week to practice and relax a little bit before their next game, Sunday against Iowa in Iowa City.