Sometimes it's nice to throw the party, but when the house gets trashed twice in a weekend, the time comes to repay the favor -- even if the host was not an earlier culprit.

Such will be the mindset when Penn State (0-2) travels to Duquesne (1-0) for a 7 p.m tipoff tonight in Pittsburgh. For the first time in the 25 years under Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland, the Lady Lions have dropped their first two home games to start a season following a 26-point loss to No. 1 Duke and a one-point loss to Villanova last weekend.

Duquesne is coming off a 62-60 win against East Carolina. Portland said it would be nice to travel and come back with a win, considering the road woes of last year's team.

"Last year this was a team that couldn't win on the road. Maybe this year will be the opposite," Portland said. "But we're running into another team that has all juniors and seniors in their starting lineup. We just have to go get a win."

All 10 losses last year came away from the Bryce Jordan Center, but the Lady Lions did not drop a single game at home.

Much like the Duke game, Penn State will be matched against a bigger, more experienced team.

"There's the size of the mismatched guards," Portland said of Duquesne. "Loui Hall has been moved to the -- they say inside -- but she's really a guard and that puts Amanda [Brown] out roaming like last night."

Hall, a 6-foot guard, is the younger sister of former Lady Lion Shauntai Hall, who transferred to Rutgers after leaving Penn State in 1997. Loui Hall is the Dukes' co-leading scorer, with 15 points in that win against East Carolina.

The ability to move size to the arc is exactly what cost Penn State the game against Villanova. The Wildcats swung their forwards out high and converted on long-range jump shots in the second half. None hurt more than when Kate Dessart Mager drained an uncontested game-winner. Brown could not get out to the perimeter quick enough to get her hand in the face of the versatile forward.

Duquesne, despite the similarities to Duke, is just a shell of the No. 1 team in the country. The Blue Devils went to the Final Four last year while Duquesne wound up 10-18 with only a 7-6 home record. The Lady Lions are 15-0 all-time in the series, including a 71-55 win a year ago at the BJC, which makes the Pittsburgh-based school the perfect site to crash.

The only problem with this party is the person throwing it. Duquesne head coach Dan Durkin served under Portland for eight years, a tenure that lasted until he left 15 years ago, when he took the Dukes head coaching position.

Duquesne assistant coach Tanya Garner played under Portland and still holds the Lady Lions record for 3-point percentage in a season (18-for-31).

Portland has not had success against several assistants, mostly because they know what she's going to bring to the table. Such has not been the case with Durkin, however, as he's yet to come out on top.

The Lady Lions and Portland both are looking forward to the end of today's game, when they can truly relax.

The five-game, three-day stretch has taken a toll.

"After the Duquesne game, they can all leave," Portland said. "They are all going some place. They don't have to be back here until 4 four o'clock on Friday."

They hope during the layoff they really have something to party about.