In the first half the No. 14 Penn State women's basketball team looked to be pressing -- in the second half the Lady Lions pressed their way to 82-62 victory over the Melbourne Tigers.

After a first half that saw the Lions play sloppy and get outhustled by Melbourne, a team comprised of players ranging from 15 to 34 years old, the Lions used the press to force the Tigers into 16 second-half turnovers. The Lions, who trailed by two at the half, outscored Melbourne 48-26 in the second half.

The Tigers looked like a team that was playing their sixth game in 10 days as their shooting percentage dropped from 48.5 percent to 39.1 percent in the second half.

"I'm not sure it was actually the game that wore us down," Melbourne Tigers coach Paul Simpson said. "We are on the road two, three hundred K's [kilometers]. Our starters did a great job, but they just ran out of gas."

Junior guard Kelly Mazzante was denied most of the first half as her first field goal came eight minutes into the game. After going 2-for-6 in the first half, she went 4-for-5 in the second half and finished as high scorer for the Lions with 20.

The Lions took the lead for good at 55-53 on a pair of sophomore Ashli Schwab foul shots with 7:50 remaining. After a Tigers' turnover, Mazzante hit a three-pointer that would have been well behind the NBA line and it was all over from there on. The Lions finished that 16-0 run and never looked back.

"We've been pressing every day since we started practice knowing that we have speed," Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland said.

"So in the second half we said 'let's press'."

Sophomore Tanisha Wright benefited from the press as she scored 12 of her 16 points in the second half, and handed out six assists and had three steals. Wright hounded Tigers' guards with the press and was key in forcing turnovers.

The Lions played with four guards and a forward the majority of the time, but didn't unveil their new "shell" offense. Portland expects to use the new offense against Bucknell on Friday in the regular season opener.

Schwab played a solid game in the forward role, with 10 points and 9 rebounds. She was very efficient taking just four shots.

The Lions shot 50 percent from the field, 47.1 percent from behind the arc, but just 62.5 percent from the foul line.

Kelly Lemazs, who led all scorers with 23 points, paced the Tigers.