The men's and women's gymnastics teams fed off each other Saturday night at the double dual meet held in Rec Hall.

As the men yelled, "We are. . ." the women answered with "Penn State."

The women also answered with their biggest win of the season against Pittsburgh, defeating the Panthers 196.875-192.450 in front of the 4,076 in attendance.

"It was a great crowd," Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard said. "The energy level was very high. They (the men's and women's gymnastics teams) fed off the energy level of the crowd."

The win improves the Lions record to 3-1, their only loss coming last weekend against Ohio State.

And for the second week in a row, sophomore Katie Rowland led the team.

She improved her personal best in the all-around scoring a 39.525 and notched a 9.950 on floor, also a career high. Rowland's performance helped garner her the Ann Carr Award for the meet.

Penn State freshman Richelle Simpson came in right behind Rowland, scoring a 39.35 in the all-around. She was followed by Penn State's Katie McAvoy, who scored a 39.125. Simpson's 9.925 on beam was her best of the season.

Seniors Gemma Cuff and Maria Taylor brought in the high scores on vault and bars respectively, with scores of 9.900 and 9.925.

"The last three weeks I have really been improving on bars and have been more consistent," Taylor said. "It's really helped my confidence."

The confidence that has been somewhat lacking on the team in the first few weeks of the season seemed virtually undetectable Saturday night as the high scores kept rolling in.

"Our goal was to hit our routines," Penn State's Leslie Bair said. "We really stepped it up. It was a big step up from last week."

Penn State finished the meet with scores of 48.800 on vault, 49.250 on bars, 49.275 on beam and a 49.550 on floor. The team's scores on vault, beam and floor are the highest for the Nittany Lions this season.

"I am very proud of our team's intensity and heart tonight," said Shephard, in a press release.

"We made some little mistakes that we need to correct, but I think we are on the right track to make a statement nationally."

The Lions will try to improve upon those scores yet once again as they head to West Virginia Saturday to face West Virginia and Nebraska.