There have been the highs -- an 83-46 pounding of then No. 12 LSU on Nov. 21, a 20- point triumph over then No. 2 Texas on Dec. 7.

There have also been the lows -- any of the squad's four losses, and especially the three-point heartbreaker it dropped to then No. 12 Louisiana Tech at home on Dec. 21, snapping a 24-game winning streak at the Bryce Jordan Center.

But with the final two games of the regular conference season quite possibly the toughest yet and with both the Big Ten and the NCAA tournaments right around the corner, the No. 7 Penn State women's basketball team (21-4, 13-1 Big Ten) will have to figure out a way to do away with the lows and only experience the highs to have the kind of season it has been anticipating.

According to freshman center Reicina Russell, getting back to those highs involves rekindling a certain early season drive.

"I definitely think I want us playing Texas-style; we have to go back to what was motivating us to playing the way that we did," Russell said. "You can tell the style of play is different now, and I don't know what happened, but whatever it was, we need to get back to that positive side, that motivating side. It was a nobody-can-stop-us mentality [when we played LSU and Texas], and I think getting back to that point will take us as far as we need to go."

Exactly what took the women off their game a bit is, as Russell indicated, hard to determine.

While an undefeated Big Ten record up until the 11th conference game may have helped to rebuild a confidence and excitement that had waned toward the end of the non-conference schedule, the loss while visiting then No. 13 Minnesota on Feb. 8 brought an end to that as well.

Over a week later, however, Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland was confident that the Minnesota loss was necessary to help bring her team to another level.

"The little step backward in the Minnesota game will make this team play its best basketball," Portland said at her Feb. 17 teleconference. "In practice they were able to take some of the things that we were trying to induce into this team as new stuff, and I think they handled it very maturely. They understand what's happening, and I do think they are in a position right now to play their best basketball."

As far as the Big Ten season is concerned, the Lions' best basketball is an absolute necessity at this point, as the fate of the conference season will be decided this week. Thursday night, the women have a date in East Lansing with a No. 20 Michigan State team (19-6, 9-5) that sits third in the conference standings and has been very vocal about wanting to avenge a last-second loss to Penn State on Jan. 4.

Sunday afternoon is the conference season finale, as the Lions face No. 5 Purdue (23-2, 13-1), in a game that will directly determine the conference champion.

The race for the Big Ten championship is now a two-team race between Penn State and Purdue, as the teams are tied for first in the conference standings with a four-game advantage over the four schools tied for the No. 3 ranking.

Whether or not the women will be able to eradicate the lows is yet to be seen, and their ability to get themselves back to playing "Texas-style" will determine the course of the remainder of the season. But for certain is the fact that the players themselves determine their own destiny, in the conference and beyond, and they would not have it any other way.

"We're a year older and a little wiser and a lot more mature [than last season]," Portland said. "And we tell them this time that it's in their hands, and their control is something I'm looking forward to watching them do."