During the tumultuous beginning to this year's season, the Penn State Lady Lions have had no problem winning at home.

In fact, Penn State has not had any problems winning at home in the current senior class' outstanding tenure in Happy Valley.

This season, the Lady Lions have started out with a 5-0 mark at home, including wins over then-No. 2 North Carolina and No. 9 Ohio State.

Last winter, Penn State finished with a 13-1 mark at home.

In 2002-03 the Lady Lions were a perfect 11-0 at the Bryce Jordan Center.

For those not involved in a math-intensive major, that means that, since Nov. 15, 2002, Penn State has gone 29-1 in the friendly confines of the Jordan Center.

"Whenever we get to play at home we get really excited," Tanisha Wright said after the game against Ohio State. "We feel like it's almost an automatic win here, we like playing at home, we just need to go on the road and win some games."

Unfortunately, the NCAA inexplicably did not allow Penn State to create a schedule comprised of 27 home games for this winter's campaign, and after a loss to a mediocre Marquette squad on Jan. 2, their record on the road stood a dismal 1-6.

That is what makes Penn State's pair of Big Ten road wins last week so important.

After starting the week with the disappointing performance against the Golden Eagles, the Lady Lions traveled to Iowa to take on a No. 18 Hawkeye squad whose 13-0 mark gave it the distinction of being the last team in the country with an unblemished record.

Penn State spotted the Hawkeyes eight points before deciding to play, but from there, the Lady Lions dominated the action and topped Iowa 77-71.

Jess Strom played all 40 minutes of the contest and was scorching hot from tip-off to the final horn, finishing with a career-high 29 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the floor. She also tied a career high by draining five shots from beyond the arc.

Tanisha Wright and Jen Harris contributed 18 points apiece, and the three players combined to take 81 percent of Penn State's shots and score 84 percent of its points.

Penn State's scoring was much more balanced in its game against Wisconsin two days later. Strom, Wright, Harris and Ashli Schwab all scored in double figures as the Lady Lion's beat the Badgers 67-58 to pick up their second win on the road in three days.

With Wright taking an uncharacteristically low 13 shots, Strom again led the way for the Lady Lions, scoring 16 points in the win. She also filled the box score in other ways, adding six assists, three rebounds and four steals while playing 40 minutes for the second straight game. Perhaps most importantly, though, Strom only turned the ball over once in the game.

As she has said all year, Penn State coach Rene Portland again reiterated in a Penn State press release just how good she thinks Strom is.

"I've been saying for four years that she's the best point guard in the Big Ten," Portland said. "After today, I think those honors should go beyond the Big Ten."

Schwab also contributed in more ways than one, grabbing 15 rebounds to go with her 12 points.

The two wins improved Penn State's record to 8-6 and suggested that the Lady Lions have recovered from their brutal early season schedule and 0-3 start. The team will return to action at 7 p.m. Thursday at home against Big Ten foe Illinois.