Eight wins in 12 games makes it difficult for Coach Rene Portland to be overly critical about the women's basketball team's road ventures.

Yet, there's something about those four times the Lady Lions didn't come home with a victory that just doesn't sit right with Portland --or the rest of the team.

It could be that Penn State's four road losses came at the hands of four high-profile teams -- No. 10 Purdue, No. 4 Tennessee, No. 5 Iowa and perennial powerhouse Texas.

Then again, it could be that the Lady Lions' road losses were by a combined 15 points. Only once was Penn State's margin of deficit more than three points.

Perhaps the real kicker is that No. 11 Penn State held a lead, as well as the ball, with less than a minute to play against both the Lady Vols and Texas.

Regardless, the Lady Lions are 0-for-4 in games that were remarkably similar to the typical NCAA Tournament game -- which is particularly troubling to a team that boasts four experienced seniors.

"It's been disheartening in the fact that we've worked hard in some of those games," guard Dana Eikenberg said. "Neither team played well at Iowa, (but) we should have beaten Purdue, we should have beat Texas and we played well at Tennessee. We should have won that game, too.

"It's just frustrating because you work so hard and then something happens."

Against Tennessee, it was late turnovers and poor rebounding. At Purdue, Iowa and Texas, poor first-half shooting proved costly. In all four cases, mental toughness lacked.

"They should be going into games with a lot more confidence than they are," Portland said.

With its next contest at archrival Rutgers on Saturday, Penn State hopes to rid itself of road lapses and return with a victory rather than another "should-have-been."

But 40 solid minutes is mandatory for the Lady Knights, anyway -- especially at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. Penn State hasn't won at Rutgers in seven years.

"This game Saturday will be a great test of where we stand and how we're going to approach the rest of the season," Eikenberg said.

For the Lady Lions to get over the proverbial hump in time for March Madness, Portland will count on the leadership of Susan Robinson, Lynn Dougherty, Kathy Phillips and Eikenberg.

"The heat has to be put on the seniors," Portland said. "They know how to win. The question shouldn't be can they win -- they're proven winners.

"We obviously haven't peaked yet, so there is a good sign in this whole thing."

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Although Rutgers, Temple and St. Joseph's are the only Atlantic 10 teams on the schedule this season, Penn State had a chance to host formal rival West Virginia again last Sunday.

Actually, it was Wisconsin pretending to be the Mountaineers.

The Big Ten's Badgers brought the same attitude, the same rough-housing and the same long-distance shooting that the Lady Lions had been used to seeing from their south-of-the border foes.

On the offensive side of the floor, Wisconsin launched 16 3-pointers from distances so far that Portland could have defended the shot herself. Defensively, the Badgers gave the feel of a West Virginia game by committing 23 fouls, in addition to the errant elbows, bumps and pushes.

Wisconsin even went so far as to enter Rec Hall a la Mountaineer.

"You could tell when they walked in the gym (that they had an attitude)," Robinson said. "When teams come in that way against us, we're like, 'Let's bury them.' "

Penn State did, 86-75.