COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The party wasn't in the student section.

The "other Lady Lions" hopped the three-and-a-half-hour complimentary bus to recreate as much of the Bryce Jordan Center atmosphere as they could last night in the Comcast Center, picking up any straggling fans from Maryland's previous game.

But they were out-screamed by the miniscule Liberty cheering section -- parents and the adopted Virginia Tech pep-band, insulting the "other Lady Lions" with their own rendition of "Hey Baby."

Meanwhile, the real Penn State women's basketball team didn't give its trekking fans much to cheer about on the court, as it was burnt by No. 13-seeded Liberty, 78-70.

The No. 4-seeded Lady Lions (19-11) were one-and-done. The career of the dynamic duo -- Tanisha Wright and Jess Strom -- ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. "Extremely disappointed, you never want to go out like this," Wright said, carefully holding back her emotions after her last game as a Lady Lion.

"The bottom line is Liberty came out and played and they wanted it more than we wanted it. They got rebounds when they needed to get rebounds, and that's something we could control," she added. "If you want to go get it, we just didn't do it tonight."

Upsets aren't as common in the women's version of the NCAA tournament. Penn State's loss is the only instance in this year's first round of a top-four seed going down.

The Lady Lions started off molasses-slow thanks to the "legit" play of the Flames' Yao Ming-like senior center Katie Feenstra, who checks in at a whopping 6 feet 8 inches above the hardwood.

Penn State then seemed to get its act together in the first half, leading at the break, 32-27.

Wright's slashing through the lane forced Feenstra to commit two costly first-half fouls -- limiting her to only 15 minutes on the court in the period.

But that's why they play two halves.

Instead of coming out of the gate and living up to its second-half team moniker, the Lady Lions looked lame in front of the Flames (25-6).

Liberty played near-perfect basketball in the second half by shooting 50 percent from the field. The Flames dominated the boards, too, thanks to Feenstra and fellow big woman Rima Margeviciute, who combined to pull 23 rebounds down off the glass.

It took a 10-point deficit for the Lady Lions to finally get themselves, and their fans, motivated enough to try a comeback. But they just didn't have it in them.

Portland put on the full-court press to generate steals and get the Lady Lions back into the contest, but Feenstra and her much stronger and taller team were too hot for the Lady Lions to jump over.

"We tried a little bit of everything tonight defensively," Portland said. "It just didn't work."

The Flames beat everything Penn State threw in their face, proving to the NCAA tournament committee just how "legit" they really were.

"I'm always exited to play in these big games, especially when we're not favored to win," Feenstra said. "A post player's a post player. I can't dribble worth anything, and if I'm not under the basket I can't score. I'm lucky enough to have great guards who can get me the ball. We've wanted this so bad for so many years."

Liberty's other unsung hero last night was point guard Allyson Fasnacht. Whether she channeled the usual energetic Zen of Strom, or took advantage of a weak Penn State defense, her 18 points provided an unexpected lift to the Flames.

"This is March Madness," Liberty coach Carey Green said.