As one of her common adages Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland often says that, on the road, "a win is a win" -- no matter what the opponent or score is. Now, she's treating a loss the same way.

Portland said nothing at her weekly press conference to suggest the 74-56 loss to No. 10 Minnesota (18-3, 7-3) is cause for severe concern. For Portland, a defeat snapping a 10-game winning streak and ousting the Lady Lions (18-4, 10-1) from the Associated Press top five is just a loss -- not a catastrophe.

"Prior to that game we talked about learning from positives, and looking at the goals," she said. "And I'm going to keep the approach. Even in the loss, let's look at the goals -- what did we meet what didn't we meet."

Though Portland may choose not to dwell negatively on the 18-point road beating at the hands of the Golden Gophers, the game may have brought what have been underlying concerns all season back to the surface. The women again failed to win a big game on the road in a hostile arena, and the post-play -- which had looked promising for the Lions the last few weeks -- again fell off the wagon. Penn State post-players Amanda Brown, Jess Brungo, Reicina Russell and Ashli Schwab combined for only 10 points and 19 rebounds.

The Lions will get one more chance to prove they are road warriors -- at No. 17 Michigan State (18-4, 8-3) Feb. 26 -- before the post-season begins.

Schedule Saves

All season, the Lions have put their faith in their highly rated schedule. And that, along with a strong RPI, the Lions hope will be their salvation come NCAA tournament time.

"Our RPI is the best thing going for us. And that's a one or two seed, so one loss is not ... going to weigh that heavily," Portland said.

Last week, when Penn State cracked the top five for the first time of the season, it appeared the Lions were in the driver's seat for a top seed in perhaps the western bracket. With the loss, the Lions, still easily a No. 2 seed at the moment, are back in the position where they will have to prove something in the final weeks to earn a No. 1 seed. Penn State has that and Sunday's loss for motivation in an extra long week of practice week (Penn State doesn't play again until Sunday at home against Michigan).

"We have to come out with a good attitude," senior guard Kelly Mazzante said. "We have to look at the mistakes we made. There were obviously a lot of them."

"And Others" Not Putting Up the Numbers

Another of Portland's noted expressions is her references to the "and others" -- meaning those players on her team other than her two leader scorers, Mazzante and junior guard Tanisha Wright.

And usually when Portland brings up the "others" it means she is not pleased with their production. Yesterday was no different, but understandably so. Not one of the Lions besides Wright and Mazzante scored more than five points. Meanwhile, Mazzante and Wright played stride for stride with Minnesota two marquee players, senior guard Lindsay Whalen and junior center Janel McCarville.

"Their two big shots showed up, our two big shots showed up. The 'and others' didn't get the job done," Portland said.

Portland wouldn't say she had plans to meet individually with the "others," but she said the bye week (Penn State doesn't play again until Sunday at home against Michigan) to "re-introduce them to their roles."

From Portland's perspective, some of the "others" struggles may have come from some disparity in the officiating at Minnesota. Freshman Russell, the conference's leading shot blocker, faired poorly on defense, blocking no shots and fouling out.

"I don't think that's her fault," Portland said. "The people in the striped shirts have a whole lot to do with that. We didn't get a call. With nine minutes and four seconds to go was the last foul that was called against Minnesota. We didn't get a call from nine minutes on."

Notes: Junior guard Jennifer Brenden, hampered by a knee injury forcing her to sit out the team's last four games, is working out with the squad, but has no set time-table for returning to game action. Her absence has forced guards such as Mazzante to play extra minutes. With Brenden out, Portland said freshman guard Jenn Harris has to "step up."