The No. 23 Penn State women's basketball team better channel its inner Paul McCartney. This week is going to be a long and winding road.

The Lady Lions (13-7, 8-1 Big Ten) took Minnesota to school on Sunday 81-68, improving to a cool 10-0 at home.

Conversely, last Thursday night's horrid loss to Northwestern, 59-48, extends Penn State's road record to 4-7.

Combine those two records, and the casual observer's reaction is a confused narrowing of the eyes, as if to focus on something very fuzzy and very far away.

The Lady Lions have one tough back-to-back away stretch left, and it's this week. Michigan on Thursday night, sure. Purdue on Sunday afternoon? Uh-oh.

Back on Jan. 20, Penn State plastered Purdue 77-54 in the Jordan Center's cozy clutches, but that's been typical here all year.

"They play well at home. They play extremely well at home," Minnesota coach Pam Borton said. "They play aggressive and they play with confidence."

Does that suggest the Lady Lions don't play this way on the road?

"It's important because [the loss to Northwestern] was a real let down," Lady Lions guard Tanisha Wright said. "There's no reason we should have lost that game."

The most commonly repeated phrase in the Lady Lions' word-lexicon is "protect the Jordan Center." Portland says that phrase at least once during each press conference, post-game or mid-week.

During the weekly Tuesday press conferences the players are never without a little wooden Jordan Center, about as long as a grade-school ruler and probably something that you'd find at one of the campus bookstores.

This season's rough non-conference schedule could be listed as one reason the Lady Lions have struggled outside the valley -- starting the season at No. 13 Texas, at No. 3 Duke, and at Villanova.

Portland made the tough schedule, ranked in the preseason as the second toughest in the country, to toughen up her team for the Big Ten season, and to make Penn State a tastier tournament entrée.

Her gamble seems to have paid off at home, but the road dividends remain uncaptured.

This week will be the test.

"Like Rene said, we don't lose here," Wright said. "We need to take that mentality on the road no matter what, and just don't lose. We need to get into a refuse to lose state of mind."

Jess Strom missed the Northwestern game, remaining home-bound in State College with an illness.

Strom epitomized what any athlete would do in that situation.

"I started pacing in my apartment," Strom said. "I went through the whole day. I was [text-messaging] them and talking to them on the phone. But I was sitting there like, 'They're at pregame right now.' Or, 'They're at shoot-around now.' It was just hard sitting at home. It was hard to listen to the game."

A second-half surge, slowly becoming a Lady Lions trademark, was the straw that broke the Golden Gophers' backs.

The difference in the locker room, right now, is Wright.

Five minutes prior to Portland's spiel, Wright has the troops to herself, going over things she sees on the court.

"We really just focus a lot on everything we didn't do well in the first half," Wright said. "We try to correct it. For example, tonight [the Gophers] were really trapping well and setting a lot of picks and rolls and things like that. So we talked about things we would need to be better. We try to adjust throughout halftime."

For the Lady Lions to keep their precarious tie-break lead over No. 2 Ohio State -- Penn State defeated the Buckeyes in the BJC over winter break, giving them an edge over Ohio State in the Big Ten Conference standings as both sit at 8-1 -- they can't "leave [Paul McCartney] waiting here."

The next two games could be the ones that take them to the door of a third straight Big Ten title.