Sure, the Penn State women's basketball team is riding a four-game winning streak. Sure, No. 24 Purdue is reeling from back-to-back losses. For any other game these would be important statistics, but not for this game.

Not for Penn State-Purdue.

The Lady Lions and the Boilermakers have been the two marquee teams in the Big Ten in the last few years. Any time the two teams meet, no matter where and no matter when, it's electric.

Purdue and Penn State face each other at 8 tonight at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Last year the Lady Lions had the Boilermakers' number in the regular season, defeating Purdue both in West Lafayette, Ind., and in State College en route to Penn State's 15-1 Big Ten record and corresponding championship trophy.

But Purdue got the last laugh in 2004, in the final of the Big Ten tournament when Shereka Wright netted two free throws with only four seconds left on the clock to give Purdue a 59-58 win.

Payback, anyone?

"I don't think anyone will forget the 3-pointer [Erin Lawless] hit in the left hand corner against us in the Big Ten tournament," Penn State coach Rene Portland said. "We have to hold on to our defense. We have to continue to do the nice things we've been doing on defense and continue to rebound, and try to attack 'em a little bit."

Penn State right now is the lone undefeated team in the Big Ten, a statistic the Boilermakers would love to change. On the other side, Penn State has yet to reappear in either top 25 poll since the first week of the season, and a win over Purdue might just do something about that.

The dynamic duo of sophomores Lawless and Katie Geralds forms the nucleus of the Boilermaker squad, averaging 15.3 and 12.7 points per game, respectively.

Geralds, a versatile player who swaps time at both the guard and small forward positions, was the 2004 Big Ten Freshman of the Year as voted by conference coaches, thanks to a solid 10.6 points per game average and a sick 45.7 3-point shooting percentage.

"She's a match-up problem and one of their freshmen, [Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton], is going to present a [6-foot-2] problem for us too," Portland said. "[Hylton] would normally be inside and she floats outside. They have two kids who can play the floor and go out and play the three. Lawless does that; Lawless can push out but take you to the high post."

Lawless loves the corner trey, like the one she hit last year Portland mentioned, which pushed the Boilermakers close enough to take the tournament.

For the Lady Lions the hottest hand of them all continues to be sophomore Jen Harris, who has already broken her career-high scoring mark four times this season and tied it once.

"I think hitting the three was her New Year's resolution," Portland said.

The "it" stat about the Lady Lions continues to be their dominance in the friendly confines of the Bryce Jordan Center -- they are undefeated at home this season. Purdue has only one victory in five attempts at the Jordan Center.

"I don't think we ever want to take what we have at home for granted," Portland said.

"We can't. We've worked too hard and made the community love us, and there are expectations here."