A month ago, the women's gymnastics team avenged last year's three losses to Ohio State by defeating the team in a dual meet for the first time since 1986. Not only that, but the Lady Lions beat the Lady Buckeyes at home.

The Lady Lions will meet the Lady Buckeyes, their biggest regional rival, once again, this time on their home turf at 8 tomorrow night in Rec Hall.

But, Coach Judi Avener is far from believing the Lady Lions have an automatic win against Ohio State. The team only edged out Ohio State by .80.

"It's pro that we're home, but it's con that the last time we met them we beat them," Avener said. "So, in a sense, we're in the defense position and they're on the offense.

"I think that we're a weaker team than the last time we met Ohio State in some respects," she added. "given that two all-arounders in that meet were (Lynn) Crane and (Tracy) Salvino and Crane won the all-around. "

Because of injuries, both Crane (foot) and Salvino (nerve problems in her wrists) are out of the lineup.

But the Lady Lions do have one weapon they did not have in their last meeting with the Lady Buckeyes -- all-arounder Kim Thrasher. Because the team had enough gymnasts to use as replacements and Thrasher experienced some back problems, she rested in the earlier Ohio State meet. The sophomore has won the all-around twice this season and holds the team's No. 3 spot in the all-around with a high of 37.15.

"It will be a lot harder," Allison Barber said. "We were without Kim Thrasher, but I still think we're going to be at a disadvantage."

Barber is another strong force in the Lady Lion arsenal. She is the team's top all-around scorer this season, hitting a peak of 37.80 in last week's meet against IUP.

"Based on Allison's performance of last weekend, if she can do that again, then we're going to be every bit as strong as we were, " Avener said.

"However, Tracy (Salvino) was an integral hitter . . . she's hit most of what she's done."

Both teams posted their highest team scores in their earlier meet against one another.

"I think we have a really good chance if we just put our minds to it," Laurie Russo said. "We have to hit our routines."

Another advantage is in the addition of sophomore Jada Hiltabrandt to the lineup. She performed on the uneven bars last weekend for the first time this season. In last week's meet, some gymnasts added more difficulty to their bar and floor exercise routines to increase their scoring potential and they plan to do the same tomorrow. But the addition could pose some consistency problems as it did for some Lady Lions last week.

Ohio State enters the contest with a not so impressive 6-4 record, but the team has fallen once to national power Arizona State and twice to Georgia, the 1989 defending NCAA champion.

Lady Buckeyes Coach Larry Cox said that he was not surprised at Penn State's win over his team, but he was surprised at his team's poor performance on bars and balance beam.

"I think the biggest thing we need to overcome is ourselves," Cox said. "We've had five meets and we haven't hit one yet."

Since the meet traditionally starts with the vault, Penn State's strongest event, Cox said that Ohio State will have to play catch-up the rest of the meet.

On all events, Avener plans to use the same lineup as in last week's meet. Replacing Crane in the four events will be some of the younger gymnasts. Redshirt freshman Russo will compete on beam; freshman Rene Lyst will take her vault spot; sophomore Janice Rogers will be in the floor exercise; and either Rogers or Hiltabrandt will cover her spot on bars.

"The key element is whether the inexperienced younger people and whether the backup people are going to treat their roles seriously," Avener said.

Cox plans to use two all-arounders in the meet but is unsure of which two. In the team's last meeting with Penn State, all-arounders Tracy Halstade (freshman) and Claire Black (sophomore) took second and third place with scores of 36.30 and 36.20, respectively. On its strongest event, bars, the team took first and second with routines by Kara Yagnesak (9.65) and Clair Wilson (9.55).