This weekend, Women's Basketball Coach Rene Portland is out to play detective -- she is in search of some proof.
Even after being ranked No. 1 for three weeks, the Lady Lions (18-0, 9-0 in the Big Ten) still have some naysayers. Nine of them, in fact. Nine Associated Press poll-voters have favored No. 2 Tennessee, which has one loss, the past three weeks.
"We say that they're Pat Summitt's nine best friends," Portland joked. "I really believe it's a territorial thing. I really believe it's SEC involved -- and who cares."
Nonetheless, Portland will try to prove the doubters wrong when she leads her team into Indiana for two tough conference games --the Lady Lions meet No. 10 Purdue (17-3, 8-1) at 7:30 p.m. today and play unranked Indiana (13-4, 7-2) at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Earlier this season, the Lady Lions beat both teams, handing the Boilermakers a 62-56 loss and the Hoosiers a 94-66 defeat. And while the Lady Lions have already handled 10 road trips, Portland isn't breathing easy --she said they treated yesterday as if it were game day.
"This one's going to be a little different for us," she said. "(Today) is going to be a little hectic . . . we're just concerned with the kids' rest at this stage of the game."
While Purdue has three overall losses, it only has one conference loss. A win for the Boilermakers tonight would tighten the Big Ten picture, while a win for the Lady Lions would likely close the door on the rest of the conference.
A win would also give the Lady Lions a record 19-straight victories.
The Lady Lions defeated Purdue in January, helped by the strength of their free throws. Penn State held a 24-1 advantage at the line, compiling 10 personal fouls to the Boilermakers' 21.
"(Purdue Coach) Lin (Dunn) is convinced that was the reason why they lost here," Portland said. "I think our team is feeling the fact that they give us no credit for that one."
Junior Purdue guard Jennifer Jacoby predicts a possible sellout for tonight's contest at Mackey Arena, and she said she thinks that couild make the difference.
"We need to go to the free-throw line," Jacoby said. "We have to talk a lot more. We have to contain everybody. They got wide-open layups a lot -- that killed us."
As for the Hoosiers, Portland is making sure lightening doesn't strike twice. It was last year that Penn State headed into Indiana with a 9-0 record -- and came home with their first loss of the season.
Note:
-- Freshman forward Toya Crumpton will not be making the trip with the Lady Lions. Crumpton wore a heart monitor yesterday and will have a stress test done today.
"We're just going to leave her home and let the doctors work with her -- we just can't figure it out," Portland said. "Some days she's fine, some days she's not. We've got to get to the bottom of it."
