When the No. 24 Penn State women's basketball team punked out against Northwestern in the teams' first duel this season, the Lady Lions practiced immediately upon their return to State College -- at 4 a.m. The Lady Lions (18-8, 13-2 Big Ten) got the Wildcats back yesterday, on Senior Day, 83-56.

"It was good because we went [to Northwestern], and they pretty much embarrassed us out there," sophomore guard Jen Harris said. "We had the attitude that we wanted to never lose at home ever. It's senior day and you can't lose on senior day, and just embarrass them back. That's really what it was."

Harris put up more than just some shots. She came off the bench and lit up the Wildcats for 20 points. Not to be outdone in her last home game, Tanisha Wright put in her ante of 20 points, capping off the game with a very, very, very rare 3-pointer.

"I figured I might as well go out on top," said Wright, who has attempted 12 3-pointers this season.

Wright's partner in crime, senior point guard Jess Strom, made Northwestern's ball handlers look just plain silly on the hardwood, grabbing five steals and scoring 15 points.

The Wildcats turned the ball over 22 times during the game because of problems both with ball handling and three separate traveling calls against forward Suzanne "The Van" Morrison.

"We've dreaded this day since they came into our place," Northwestern coach Beth Combs said. "Today was going to be a very daunting task for a number of reasons, obviously. Wright and Strom are two of the best players in the country."

The Van was the lone headlight for the Wildcats offensively with 16 points, but Morrison ran into some transmission problems in the form of foul trouble -- fouling out with 6:23 left on the clock.

As the Lady Lions suffered without Strom in the first Northwestern matchup, the Wildcats whimpered without starting center Sarah Kwasinski.

"She took ill the night before the Illinois game," Combs said.

Penn State coach Rene Portland lauded the performance of her five seniors -- Strom, Wright, guard Jenny Brenden, center Ashli Schwab and forward Hazel Joseph -- in the post-game press conference.

"Even though this group didn't cry," Portland said. "When T leaves the Jordan Center on a 3, I guess that's a sign of good things to come."