Both Jess Strom and Tanisha Wright took shots about their singing abilities on Sunday, both in the senior introductions and at the postgame press conference.

As they've done for the past four years, both defended each other's vocal skills, but none can downplay the melody the two have orchestrated in their careers at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Everything started on Nov. 16, 2001, when a modest crowd of 5,678 poured into the Jordan Center to see the new-look Lady Lions.

The meager crowd might not have known what it was witnessing at the time, but even those with enough foresight couldn't have expected it. What the crowd ended up seeing was a 16-point loss to Villanova, but the side note of the game was the first game for Penn State guards Jess Strom and Tanisha Wright.

Fast forward four years to Sunday and their going away party hosted the third biggest crowd (15,177) ever at the Jordan Center for a Lady Lions' game. What the mass of people, which nearly tripled the crowd from four years ago, saw was one of the most dynamic backcourts in school history play its last home game.

They may have also watched the greatest Lady Lion walk off the Jordan Center for the last time.

"It is ironic, as a freshman all she could do is dribble with her right hand and shoot a lay-up, and we were happy with that," Penn State coach Rene Portland said of Wright. "Maybe that's why she took the three, to show you that she's progressed all the way out and all the way back in. Defensively, I think everybody that sees her just wants to cry. She has lived up to the billing that I gave her that she's the best all-around player that I've ever coached."

There have been 55 games played at the Jordan Center since Wright and Strom stepped on campus. The Lady Lions won 50 of them, including two perfect seasons. In those 55 games, Penn State scored 4,224 points. Wright and Strom scored 1,456 of them (34.5 percent). The duo also accounted for 61.7 percent of the assists in the last four years.

Not bad, considering Kelly Mazzante reigned in the box scores for three of those years.

"We focus on playing at home, and we pride ourselves to protect the Jordan Center," Strom said. "That's what we've been doing the past three years. It is a great accomplishment; we're proud of that."

The Villanova game proved to be more of a forecast for Wright than Strom. Wright scored eight points, pulled down nine rebounds, got six assists, three steals and three blocks, all off the bench.

Strom, who was making her first start, scored just four points and had two assists, with no turnovers.

Wright and Strom might be two different players, but either way they have gotten their jobs done. Wright just flat-out scores, flat-out defends and flat-out needs to win.

Strom does what a point guard is supposed to do. She scores when she needs to, a la the 32 first-half points the past two games and just four in the second half when the game was out of reach, and when her team needs it, she's always, daresay, strom-ing their pain with her fingers.

A completely new era will start next year, but everyone involved in the one that ended Sunday saw something special.

"I'm glad I had that chance to enjoy it," Wright said. "I'm glad we had that chance to be in it at the end together and really enjoy the moment."