The No. 25 Penn State women's gymnastics team's motto for the season is "Stepping it up." However, after a sixth place finish out of six at the SEC Challenge and a home loss to an unranked Denver team, along with a multitude of injuries, the squad was left with the job of trying to fix mistakes and find any way to succeed.

On Sunday night at the Fitzgerald Field House in Pittsburgh, the team finally put it all together with a 193.500-191.000 win over an unranked Pittsburgh squad.

"We had a great performance Sunday, and I was very pleased with all of the girls," coach Steve Shephard said. "This meet was a good step in the right direction for us, and will serve as a learning experience and added motivation for the remainder of the season."

Against the Panthers, the team finally showed just how successful they could be against an equally matched opponent. Junior Katie Rowland led the squad with the top all-around score of 39.475, and meet highs of a 9.925 on beam, a 9.875 on floor exercise, and a 9.900 on vault.

Following Rowland in the standings were teammates and fellow juniors Leslie Bair with a 38.800 and Katie McAvoy with a 38.775. In addition, Bair tallied a 9.775 on vault, and a 9.85 on floor, while McAvoy matched her season high of 9.825 on vault, and led the team with a 9.825 on bars.

Despite the dominance of the squad, there were numerous mistakes made along the way.

"We have many things to work on this week in practice," Shephard said. "We had to count two falls on vault, which never should have happened. Our errors do not even involve fine tuning, but instead landing and sticking our vaults. Leslie did a fantastic job in this area, sticking her vault and turning in her best one all year."

Another problem area for the squad involved working with a set of uneven bars that were dramatically different from their practice set.

"We were a little bit sloppy on bars," Shephard said. "In Pittsburgh, we were forced to use their bars, which are free-standing and extremely loose. The girls have been a bit spoiled by our entire coaching staff, since we always adjust the bars at home to their own specifications. We need to prepare better for different and unknown conditions."

However, in spite of the adverse conditions, the squad was led by a variety of different stars throughout the night. In addition to Rowland, Bair and McAvoy's clear dominance, junior Dana Cuomo, normally just an uneven bars specialist, performed a beam routine for the first time in three years, one that she just learned in November.

One of the biggest achievements for the team Sunday was the realization that it can compete successfully with a team of equal skill.

"Our team has a history of performing incredibly well with weak competition or with strong competition who they cannot beat," Shephard said. "However, our close competitors are the only ones who really threaten us, put pressure on the girls and cause them to falter. We have really talked about acting as though every meet is a Regionals or a national championship."

The women's gymnastics team next faces unranked Illinois in a double dual meet with the men's squad at 1 p.m. Saturday in Rec Hall.