Forget Penn State's two early turnovers in the first two minutes. Forget the nine point deficit the Lady Lions found themselves in at the 12:49 mark of the first half. Forget that last night was a battle throughout the entire first half, as evidenced by a halftime score that was knotted at 34.

Forget all that, because in the showdown on the floor of the Bryce Jordan Center between the No. 7 Lions (14-3, 7-0) and No. 9 Minnesota (15-2, 4-2), all that mattered was the end result, a 75-56 Penn State victory.

"This is a big time win," Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland said, letting her excitement shine through in her huge smile.

Portland certainly had reason to be excited, as the win not only gave the Golden Gophers their second consecutive conference loss, but also kept alive her team's unblemished conference record. On top of that, Penn State senior guard Kelly Mazzante was crowned the all-time Big Ten leading scorer, breaking Calbert Cheaney's record of 2,613 career points with a fast break lay-up 15 minutes and 57 seconds from the end of the game. In this record-breaking night, however, there was no place for extended celebration.

"This time in particular I just wanted to keep playing," Mazzante said. "Rene was like, 'Wave, wave, wave,' but I was ready to get back on the floor."

"There were no hugs this time," Portland added, alluding to Sunday's celebration in which Mazzante went into the stands to hug her parents after becoming the Big Ten women's all-time leading scorer.

Fortunately for the Lions, Mazzante's 29 points not only gave her the 20 she needed to pass the record, they gave her team a victory as she steadily racked up the points that kept her team in the game in the first half and sealed the win in the second. Twenty-nine was not only 19 more than any of her teammates, but more importantly, was 14 more than Lindsay Whalen, Minnesota's version of Mazzante.

Junior Tanisha Wright was the force to stop Whalen, but as a whole, the defense did not fully kick in for Penn State until the second half. After the break, Penn State finally started to stop the Gophers' offense en route to a 12 point lead just under six minutes after the half. A display of spunk from Minnesota, however, kept them in the game, as they found themselves just four points away from stealing Penn State's house with four minutes remaining. But in the final stretch, the Gophers couldn't close out, allowing 17 points and scoring just four themselves. The fouling out of Minnesota guard Kelly Roysland as well as starting center Janel McCarville in the final minutes certainly did not help the Gophers finish.

"I felt like we did not seize the moment," Minnesota women's basketball coach Pam Borton said. "We didn't recognize that we had a great opportunity to beat Penn State on their home floor."

Penn State's post play, which has been on Portland's hit list, showed marked improvement. Freshman Reicina Russell contributed four blocks, while freshman Amanda Brown was second on the team in scoring with 10 points.

As the clock read all zeroes to end the game, Mazzante tossed the ball in the air in celebration. Because though it may have seemed like the victory might not have come, it had now arrived -- and that was all that mattered.