"Football didn't do it," Pittsburgh coach Traci Waites said. "This is what it's all about. We did this for all the other coaches at Pitt."

With Penn State up by one point with 1:17 to play, Balich nailed two free throws to give Pittsburgh a 47-46 lead. With 12 seconds remaining, Balich put the win on ice with two more points from the charity stripe.

Penn State had one last chance, but Panther center Nickeia Morris' block of guard Christine Portland's desperation three-point attempt from the corner sent the Pittsburgh bench jumping to the floor in celebration.

A teary-eyed Darling, who spent most of the game on the bench with foul trouble and finally fouled out of the game with 12 seconds to play, said she didn't know where to begin looking for answers about the loss. She just knew it was going to be hard finding them.

"A loss is a loss, so it's going to be hard," the junior captain said. "For me, it was a tough loss. There's no way we should have lost tonight."

For Waites, it's safe to say the win was the biggest of her career.

It was the rookie coach's third game at the helm of the Panthers -- her other wins being blowouts over Robert Morris and Miami (Ohio).

This win, though, was more for the team than it was for Waites, the coach said.

"It's great for the kids. They wanted to win more than I did," Waites said. "Penn State is a household name. They have a great winning tradition."

Behind solid performances from center Clara Carter and guard Lisa Shephard, the Lions led by as many as eight points in the first half. But with under two minutes remaining, that lead began to dwindle. Balich scored four points and guard LaTonya Blanton hit a key jump shot to cut Penn State's lead to a basket, 27-25, at the half.

Waites said with the way her team played in the first half, the Lion lead could have been much larger.

"We were playing awful, awful," she said. "We weren't doing any of the little things."

That wasn't the case in the second half.

Pittsburgh tied the game two minutes into the final half, and it was a seesaw battle the rest of the way. The Panthers led by no more than four points, and the Lions' biggest second-half edge was five points.

In the end, as both Waites and Penn State coach Rene Portland said, the biggest factor may have been the superior conditioning of the Panthers.

"You gotta play with heart, and that's what we did," Panther guard Monique Toney said. "We were a lot stronger, and able to bang it in there and suck it up."

Penn State is hoping it can suck up the surprising early-season loss.

Center Andrea Garner, who shot a dismal 2 for 10 from the floor and finished with five points, said the team needs to put the upset aside.

"We can't let this get us down," Garner said. "We can't let one loss determine the whole season."