For all the thousands of Penn Staters who would've loved to have extended their winter vacations, there are about a dozen who couldn't be happier to be back in Happy Valley.

The women's basketball team, which hasn't played a game on its home court since Dec. 19, finally returns to Rec Hall for a pair of games this weekend. The No. 3 Lady Lions (10-0, 2-0 Big Ten) open their Big Ten home schedule at 7:30 p.m. today against undefeated Indiana (10-0, 1-0), then host No. 13 Purdue (11-2, 2-0) at 1 p.m. Sunday.

"We're anxious to be home, back in Rec Hall, and hopefully people are missing us," Coach Rene Portland said. "It's a big weekend because you've got to take care of your own house."

Housekeeping begins tonight with a matchup of two of the conference's three undefeated teams. The Hoosiers, picked 10th in the preseason conference polls, have coasted to a perfect mark by rolling through a paper-thin schedule. But Coach Jim Izard said he doesn't think his Hoosiers will fold in the face of their first real competition.

"We're not going to let down," Izard said. "We're not taking the fact that we're supposed to lose. We don't believe in that."

The Hoosiers are keyed by a small but effective pair in the paint. Senior center Kim Hooper and junior forward Shirley Bryant, 6-foot-1 and 5-foot-10, respectively, have combined for 28.4 points and 14.4 rebounds per game to lead Indiana. The backcourt hasn't 6502Indiana. The bacontributed as much as Izard had hoped, largely due to the slow recovery of senior guard Kris McGrade, who is back from an anterior cruciate ligament tear suffered last season.

"Really, she hasn't played that well yet," Izard said of his point guard. "Getting back from the injury takes a while, but I think she'll get better each game."

The Boilermakers, picked fifth in the preseason Big Ten polls, have been impressive early on. Only a five-point loss to then-No. 5 Vanderbilt in Nashville and an upset loss to Mississippi have kept Coach Lin Dunn's squad out of the top 10.

Dunn, without a senior on the roster, knew coming into the season that youth would have to carry her team. She probably didn't know that the weight of the world would be carried by a single freshman.

Forward Leslie Johnson, the highly touted recruit who has surpassed the loftiest of expectations, leads the Boilermakers with 19 points and 9 boards a game., and has twice been named Big Ten player of the week.

"Johnson is something else," Portland said of Purdue's rookie star. "Her role model is Charles Barkley, and if she shaves her head, she's a good duplicate. We're going to have our hands full with her."