Rene Portland is usually one of the most animated and vocal women's basketball coaches in all of Division I.

But she was not herself on Saturday.

Instead, the head of the Lady Lions watched from the sidelines in an unusually quiet and collected mood as she witnessed Penn State's run at a national championship end in the Sweet 16.

The No. 4-seeded Penn State women's basketball team fell to top-seeded Tennessee 86-58 at the Thompson Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn., in the 2003 NCAA Women's Basketball Mideast Regional Semifinal. The Lady Volunteers simply dominated the Lady Lions in every aspect of the game in front of a sea of orange on their home court as they extended their home winning streak in the NCAA tournament to 43 games. Portland was frustrated her team was unable to execute when it came to gametime.

"It's a hell of a way to end a season," she said.

Penn State had a strong performance from guard Jess Strom, who scored 18 points and played possessed for much of the game, hitting shots from beyond the arch as well as driving through the lane. She was the leading scorer for the Lady Lions, ahead of Ashli Schwab and Kelly Mazzante, who had 12 apiece. Mazzante was held to only three points in the first half and nine in the second, well off her 24-point season average. The aggressive and physical Tennessee defense appeared to wear down the second-team Verizon All-American.

"In the first half, I was open I just didn't put the ball in the basket," Mazzante said. "I've gotten to the point where I just learn to get open. I mean it's frustrating, but I think all season I've tried to do other things, and I wasn't doing those. I wasn't doing the other things that I was capable of doing."

It was atypical for Mazzante to be made a non-factor, as very few teams have been able to limit the scoring capabilities of the 2003 Big Ten Player of the Year. This was compounded by the fact that the Lady Vols played straight man-to-man defense on her, a defensive scheme that very few teams employ on the nation's fourth-leading scorer. The job of shutting down Mazzante went to Tennessee guard Kara Lawson.

"When you guard a player like Kelly, you better be ready to run around a lot because they set a lot of staggered screens and she reads them well," Lawson said. "You can't make up your mind as to what you're going to do before because she'll make you pay."

Leading the Lady Vols on both defense and offense was center Gwen Jackson, who had 24 points and 12 rebounds. Jackson's grandmother recently passed away, so she said her individual performance as well as the team's were even more special to her.

"I went home and it kind of gave me a rebirth of life and how sometimes you need to take things for granted," Jackson said. "So, definitely I credit that to how hard I played today."

It was no surprise that an inside player would be the game's top scorer, as Tennessee exploited Penn State's weak low-post presence. The Lady Vols' post players contributed 47 points to the team's total, often putting back second and third opportunities off of offensive rebounds. Penn State had no answer to the depth and talent of Tennessee's inside game.

"I think a huge key for us was that we only had one turnover in the first half and that came with five minutes to go," Lawson said. "The one thing you have to do as a perimeter in large is take care of the basketball. Our game plan from the beginning was to get the ball inside to our post players. I think we really played to our strengths today as far as getting the ball inside."

The Lady Vols did just that and dominated the post play on both offense and defense, out-rebounding Penn State by a lopsided margin of 54-24. On defensive rebounds alone, Tennessee matched the Lady Lions' combined game total for boards. Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt said the plan of attacking the post was executed perfectly.

"I practically threatened [Tennessee] if I saw any early threes today," she said. "I said let's just get the ball inside, get the ball in the paint, I don't care if it comes off a pass or off penetration. I thought that really helped us get off to a quick start in our transition in our attack."

The Lady Vols have now advanced to the round of eight 18 times and are 78-15 in the NCAA tournament all time. With the win, Tennessee earned the right to play No. 2 Villanova, a 53-51 winner over Colorado in Saturday's other semifinal, in the regional final at 7:30 tonight in Knoxville.