W. basketball

It's been a grueling few weeks for the Penn State women's basketball team.
The No. 7 Lady Lions (6-1) have been up and down the East Coast during their first seven games of the season, playing three top-15 teams in the process. And three of the unranked opponents -- Old Dominion, Maryland and Baylor -- the Lions played in between, weren't exactly slouches, sharing a combined record of 15-5.

So even though Penn State could use -- and probably deserves -- a rest before it starts its Big Ten conference schedule, the Lions will have no such luxury.

During the semester break, Penn State is scheduled to face four teams currently ranked in the Top 25.

"We were looking to [schedule tough]," Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland said, adding that big-game experience would help her team in the NCAA tournament. "Some people owed us games. We called everyone in the Big 12, everyone in the [Southeastern Conference]."

The Lions' toughest non-conference tests remaining on the schedule are against No. 12 Louisiana Tech (3-1) at 2 p.m. Dec. 12 at the Bryce Jordan Center and No. 16 North Carolina (6-1) 5:30 Dec. 30 in Carmichael Auditorium.

The Lions will start Big Ten Conference play against No. 8 Purdue -- a team posing one of the biggest threats to Penn State's goal of repeating as Big Ten regular season champions. The Lions will take on this deep Boilermaker (6-1) squad that plays a similar up-tempo style at 7 p.m. Jan. 2 in Mackey Arena.

Here are Penn State's other opponents over the semester break: Pittsburgh (1-3) at 2 p.m. Dec. 14 in the Jordan Center; No. 25 Michigan State (5-1) at 1 p.m. Jan. 4 in the Jordan Center; Iowa (5-2) at 7 p.m. Jan. 8 in the Jordan Center; and Wisconsin (3-3) 2:30 p.m. Jan. 11 in Madison.

-- By Wade Malcolm