MSU women's basketball team travels to University Park, Pa., on Sunday to do battle with No. 13 Penn State - the preseason coaches' pick to win the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions (13-3 overall, 4-0 Big Ten) remain the lone undefeated team in conference play.

Penn State rides an 11-game home-court winning streak going into the matchup at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Bryce Jordan Center. The Spartans are 3-4 on the road this year, something freshman forward Liz Shimek admits is a huge flaw that needs to be overcome.

"We haven't played really well on the road this season, it's always at home," Shimek said. "It's going to be hard at (Penn State's) gym, when we don't have the stands cheering behind us. We have to create our own energy and I think it's something we really need to work on."

Nittany Lion guard Kelly Mazzante is also something MSU will need to "work on."

Mazzante has led her team in scoring 13 out of 16 games, netting a conference-leading average of 26.6 points per contest - including 33- and 31-point efforts in her last two outings. For her performance, Mazzante was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday.

MSU head coach Joanne McCallie said the team's strategy for handling the hot-handed junior is simple.

"You just have to respect her (Mazzante)," McCallie said. "Know that you will not stop her, but try to disrupt flight."

The Nittany Lions are fresh off a win at Northwestern on Jan. 12. In a game where it never trailed, Penn State outscored the Wildcats 79-63 - despite dressing just seven players.

Penn State head coach Rene Portland expressed content for the squad's accomplishments, noting even the defense - which had been lacking prior to conference play - has picked up.

"We were awful, we gave up 93 points to Pennsylvania," she said. "After that we spent three or four days in the gym without basketballs, and just played defense.

"Winning the first four conference games have been due to effort and a lot of hard work