Brianne O'Rourke grew up in Pittsburgh, and while she devoutly follows the Steelers, the Pittsburgh Panthers did not draw near the attention as the Steel Curtain.

"It wasn't like that big of a deal like here at Penn State," O'Rourke said about the Pittsburgh Panthers.

"If you live here, you're pretty much a Penn State fan, but I think at Pitt..." she said, trailing off as Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland leaned over to interrupt her.

"We don't need to read it in their locker room," Portland said with a chuckle.

The Lady Lions (1-3) don't need to give any teams extra motivation this weekend. They will play in-state rival Pittsburgh (5-1) at 7 tonight and a desperate No. 24 Texas Tech (2-4) at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Tonight's game against the Panthers will continue the intense Pitt-Penn State rivalry. The Lady Lions hold a 24-11 edge in the all-time series.

"It is a game that the fans like, the media likes, everybody likes it," Portland said. "There's Florida-Florida State, Michigan-Michigan State and Pitt-Penn State is a natural in a lot of sports."

The Lady Lions have struggled in the early parts of the season, dropping consecutive games at home to then-No. 1 Duke and Villanova. The two-game home-losing streak ties for the longest in the Bryce Jordan Center's history. The last time Penn State lost consecutive home games was in December of 2001, when it lost to Clemson and Ohio State.

A loss against Pittsburgh would mark the first three-game home-losing streak at the BJC.

"You've got to take care of your house," Portland said. "We did not do that last weekend, so there's a real challenge for us this weekend to take care of our house and get back on a winning streak here."

As if a slow start isn't enough cause of concern, the Lady Lions may be without their starting shooting guard Mashea Williams, who suffered a right knee injury in Tuesday's loss against Old Dominion.

Freshman forward Rashida Mark, who suffered an eye injury in practice earlier this week, may also be unavailable.

Without Mark and Williams, Penn State would only have eight active players. Williams also serves as the backup point guard behind O'Rourke, and without her, Penn State has no viable option behind O'Rourke.

Last year, Penn State, led by native Pittsburghers Tanisha Wright and Jess Strom, needed overtime to beat the Panthers on the road, 84-79.

"Probably one of my best teams ever, and they took me to overtime," Portland said. "It's a game of real concern, and it's extremely important to us."

Third-year Pittsburgh women's basketball coach Agnus Berenato has now had time to develop many of her own recruits. One of those recruits, sophomore center Marcedes Walker, leads Pitt with 18.8 points and eight rebounds per game.

Texas Tech, in a similar fashion to Penn State, has started the season on a slow note, losing XX of their last XX.

"I'm sure they're just chomping at the bits to get things," Portland said.

The Lady Raiders return two senior player-of-the-year candidates in guard Erin Grant and forward LaToya Davis.

With a hungry and ranked Texas Tech team and a bitter rival coming to town, Portland knows her team cannot provide any locker room material.

When asked later if she ever thought she'd be on the blue-and-white side of the Pitt-Penn State rival, O'Rourke was more cautious with her reply, careful to provide no ammunition for Pitt.

"I never really thought about where I was going to school until high school, really," she said. "It will be nice playing them though."