Normally, it takes a full 40 minutes to win a basketball game.

Yesterday, though, Penn State only needed about five to beat a lowly Northwestern squad 91-48 in Evanston, Ill., to give Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland a win in her 800th game coaching for Penn State. The win also kept the Lady Lions (8-10, 2-5 Big Ten) from sinking further in the Big Ten standings.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak for Penn State and marked the first conference road win for Penn State this season.

"It was a must win. It really was," Portland said on the Penn State Sports Network after the game. "This will be a big help."

The two teams played to a 10-10 tie in the first four minutes before the Wildcats (4-14, 0-7) decided to take the rest of the afternoon off. While Northwestern was content to play only five minutes of solid basketball, Penn State played with an intensity not usually seen this season, especially on the road. Penn State now has a 3-5 record as the visiting team.

The outcome of this year's game couldn't be more different than the last time Penn State traveled to Northwestern. Last year, the Wildcats upset a Penn State team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament, 59-48.

Penn State broke the tie with an 18-1 run behind the strong play of freshman forward Courtney Molinaro and sophomore guard Kamela Gissendanner and finished the first half with a 39-17 lead. Nine of the Wildcats' first-half points came from free throws, a testament to their inability to hit any shot that involved any type of defense.

Defensively, Penn State turned in its best performance of the season, holding the Wildcats to a dismal 20 percent shooting and only 11 field goals. Conversely, Penn State finished with an impressive 49 percent field goal percentage and outrebounded Northwestern, 55-34.

Molinaro, who got in the game quickly because of an early Amanda Brown foul, finished the game with 12 points and 11 rebounds, both career highs, while Gissendanner added 21 points in only 26 minutes.

While Gissendanner is always a threat to break double digits, the emergence of Molinaro was a pleasant surprise. Molinaro has shown moments of potential, but has looked mostly raw and unrefined thus far.

"The best part of her offensive rebounds tonight is she finished them,"

Portland said. "She didn't get anxious, and she just took her time. She's just calm about herself."

The win is a confidence boost for a team that hasn't had much to smile about so far.

"I'm just happy that they're keeping their heads," Portland said. "Its real easy to get down and out and give up the season, and they haven't."

Every Lady Lion scored in the game, five reached double figures and several reached career highs in the Lady Lions' most complete game of the season.

Freshman point guard Brianne O'Rourke played arguably the best game of her short career, finishing with a career-high 15 points. She chipped in five rebounds and five assists while only committing two turnovers and also had three 3-pointers, an area in which she usually struggles. She was shooting just 18 percent before from beyond the arc prior to yesterday's game. Even sophomore walk-on guard Brittany Remmey had a career night, scoring four points off the bench.

While a win against Northwestern isn't cause for a ticker-tape parade in State College, it is a step in the right direction for a struggling program.

"They've got to stick together off the court and stick together on the court," Portland said about her team. "We haven't been looking at the negatives, and [we're] holding onto the positives."