After living out of their suitcases for most of January, the Penn State Lady Lions are finally returning home.

Following a three-game road trip, part of a stretch during which Penn State played four of five games on the road, the Lady Lions (8-10, 2-5 Big Ten) will face Iowa (12-7, 5-3) at 7 tonight at the Bryce Jordan Center.

After playing in front of a friendly crowd only once in the past three weeks, Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland couldn't be more pleased to be back in Happy Valley -- even if it is just for one game before leaving for a Sunday afternoon contest in Minnesota.

"Oh, cut me a break," a relaxed Portland said, smiling. "We're happy to be home. It's been tough."

Portland has good cause to be smiling about coming home -- her team dropped three of its last four on the road, including a tough loss to Illinois and double-digit losses to Michigan State and Purdue. Its only win during that trip was against Big Ten bottom feeder Northwestern.

Penn State has won two of three at home, both convincing wins against St. Francis (Pa.), 89-43, and Wisconsin, 69-54.

Neither of those teams, though, has quite the offensive weapon that Iowa has in senior guard Crystal Smith. Her 18.9 points per game pace the Hawkeyes' Big Ten-leading offense and top the conference, tied with Ohio State's Jessica Davenport and Michigan State's Liz Shimek.

"She's both ends of the court," Portland said. "We don't have anybody that can match up to her."

Smith's defensive tenacity (2.57 steals per game) may cause headaches for freshman point guard Brianne O'Rourke, who has struggled when facing similar guards. In the first game of the season, O'Rourke faced No. 1 Duke's junior guard Lindsey Harding, considered one of the nation's best defenders, and committed nine turnovers.

"We've seen pressure on her off and on during the season, and she's in the Big Ten. Welcome to the world," Portland said. "It's going to be a real issue for her handling the pressure and not getting frustrated that somebody's a little gnat fly on you the whole time."

Iowa has a nagging bug of its own in the injury category. Since the start of the season, four Hawkeyes have sustained knee injuries -- three of which were season-ending ACL injuries. Most recently was freshman forward Nicole VanderPol, who will miss three to six weeks with a partially torn MCL in her left knee.

Despite the setbacks, Iowa women's basketball coach Lisa Bluder has kept her team competitive.

"They're really rising to the occasion for their coach," Portland said.

Bluder will need her squad to play well tonight. Iowa has not fared well against the Lady Lions, losing four straight games, and hasn't won at Penn State since 2002, another reason for Portland to look forward to some home cooking -- something her team hasn't tasted much this month.

With five of her team's eight January games played on the road, Portland joked that February's theme song for the Lady Lions would be "Welcome Back Kotter" and in jest invited members of the media to check their luggage and experience the road for themselves.

"Maybe one of these days you guys could go on the road with us and see that it's not as much fun as people think it is," she said with a laugh.

Dirty Laundry

After its Nov. 25 loss to then-No. 22 Oklahoma at the Odwalla Classic in San Francisco, Iowa's normal black road uniforms were shrunk in the laundry, forcing Iowa to wear gold on the road. The Hawkeyes are 5-2 on the road since then.