Eleven days ago the women's basketball team saw its record slip to 3-7 after an 83-69 defeat at the hands of St. Joseph's. A loss to Maryland at home followed three days later, and the Lady Lions found themselves in the midst of a four-game losing streak, the longest in team history.

The team's confidence was shaken, and the Lady Lions, facing two games in the four days after the loss to Maryland, had little time to get back on track.

But the Lady Lions did what they had to do, hammering Atlantic 10 Conference opponents Massachusetts and Rhode Island. And with its confidence buoyed by two wins that have raised its record to 5-8, Penn State will be looking for revenge at 7:30 tonight at Rec Hall when they Meet St. Joe's in a rematch of their Jan. 7 game.

St. Joe's enters the game with a 10-2 record overall and a league-leading 5-0 A-10 slate. The Lady Hawks have received votes in the Associated Press' Top 20 poll, and are ranked No. 20 in USA Today's Top 25 poll.

"It's going to take an all team effort, its going to take serious concentration to get ready for St. Joe's," Coach Rene Portland said. "St. Joe's is a Top 20 team, but we're certainly deeper than St. Joe's is at this stage of the game, and that means we're going to have to use that to our advantage."

The Lady Lions used their bench strength to their advantage in their wins against UMass and Rhode Island, as all 10 players scored in both games.

But in the first game against St. Joe's, the Lady Hawks only needed two players to bury the Lady Lions. Dale Hodges and Kim Foley combined for 57 points and Hodges added nine rebounds, as the two picked apart Penn State's inside defense at will.

Hodges is the leading scorer in the A-10 and one of the top 10 scorers in the nation, averaging 26.3 points per game. She also pulls down 12.2 rebounds per game. Foley scores 19.9 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, giving the Lady Hawks one of the most potent 1-2 combinations in the nation.

"We gave up a ton of points to Dale Hodges and Kim Foley down at St. Joe's (earlier this season), and we can't let that happen again," Portland said. "We can't let one player go off on us like that and not be able to control them.

"We need help from our (guards)," Portland continued. "We worked on our choke down, who would help out. Our guards have to be a help. We have to be sure they aren't confused."

And the Lady Lions were confused against St. Joe's, giving up a season-high 52 second-half points to the Lady Hawks.

"We really played stupid in the first game," Portland said. "We played one of our dumber games. They got more points on out-of-bounds plays than anyone in recent memory. We weren't concentrating."

The Lady Lions have been concentrating in the last two games, and freshman guard Dana Eikenberg said the team will have no problem getting motivated for tonight's game.

"Right now we want St. Joe's bad," Eikenberg said. "We felt we went into St. Joe's maybe a little sluggish, we weren't mentally prepared, we didn't execute the way we should, and now they're here at our home, and it's going to be a different ballgame."

Right now it's a different season for the Lady Lions, who have recovered from a near-disaster less than two weeks ago. Penn State now has an opportunity to boost its A-10 record to 4-2 while gaining a measure of revenge against St. Joe's, which has won the last four games between the two schools.

"Last year we came so close to beating them down there (a 62-60 St. Joe's victory), and we didn't get the job done," Portland said. "We have to pull and upset in Rec Hall. The two games we won were two shots in the arm. They were two decisive win, two big wins for us."

FAST BREAKS: -- Susan Robinson was named the A-10 Freshman of the Week for the second consecutive week. Robinson averaged 23.3 points and 9.3 rebounds in three games for the Lady Lions. . .Hodges was the co-winner of the A-10 Player of the Week with Vicky Picott of Rutgers. Hodges averaged 28.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.0 steals in two victories for the Lady Hawks.