Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland often tells her team it needs to bottle up the energy it plays with at home and take it on the road.

Unfortunately, if the Lady Lions were successful in packaging their vigor, Ole Miss effectively spilled it all over the floor of the Tad Smith Coliseum.

The Rebels (7-2) busted out to a 22-2 lead and built the difference to as large as 22 points in the first half en route to a 65-48 victory over Penn State yesterday in Oxford, Miss. Though playing well after cutting into the deficit, the Lady Lions (6-6) were unable to climb out of the ditch the Rebels dug with their hectic, run-and-gun offense, losing their sixth straight contest on the road.

"You can't blame the kids, we've gotta get them ready for these kinds of games," Portland told the Penn State Radio Network.

"But we didn't handle the pressure. The athletic ability [of Ole Miss], obviously, was something we had to contend with and couldn't."

Penn State guard Adrienne Squire continued her cool play away from the Bryce Jordan Center, pacing the Lady Lions with 13 points. However, her efforts were not enough to pick up the slack created with sophomore point guard Brianne O'Rourke and senior leader Amanda Brown struggling.

O'Rourke had seven assists, tallying her 200th career dish in the process, but turned the ball over five times and was held scoreless. Brown posted only six points and six rebounds, well below her season averages, while missing several opportunities in the post.

"It's very frustrating for [Amanda] I'm sure," Portland said. "She has the best intentions of making those little shots, so it's 'get back in the gym and continue to work on them.' "

The Lady Lions held SEC Player of the Week Armintie Price to only eight points, making her the second consecutive versatile star opponent they have contained. However, the Rebels got 15 points from Alliesha Easley and 12 from Ashley Awkward to alleviate the stress in the backcourt, something Penn State could not do for Brown.

Though the second half was considerably better for the Lady Lions, Portland was frustrated with the mistakes that could have shifted momentum in their favor.

"In the second half we came out and did a much better job," Portland said. "But we had some missed lay-ups in a time when we could have gotten [the lead] under ten and missed foul shots. I think our foul-shooting tonight was the worst I've seen all season."

With an entire week off until they travel to Georgetown on Sunday, Portland hopes to rectify the 5-13 performance from the foul line in addition to getting back to basics.

"There's a lot of games left in the season, and we have to stay at it and win a game on the road. I think the kids certainly wanna win on the road," Portland said. "[Fundamentals are] the answer to everything. I think you go back to work on the fundamentals, boxing out and giving them a little bit of rest."