After a winless three-game road trip, Northwestern returns home to Welsh-Ryan Arena to face Big Ten leader No. 22 Penn State tonight.

The Nittany Lions (12-6, 7-0 Big Ten) are on a six-game winning streak and are the only Big Ten team with a perfect conference record.

“I don’t know if you can look to stop what they do in the backcourt,” coach Beth Combs said. “I think what you have to do is hope to contain and keep them at their averages.”

Penn State has gone 11-3 since beginning the season 1-3. The Nittany Lions have upset five ranked opponents and just re-entered the rankings this week after dropping out after week one.

Penn State is led by three-time Big Ten Player of the Week, senior guard Tanisha Wright. Wright is averaging 20.2 points, four assists and 4.8 rebounds a game.

“Wright and (Jess) Strom are two of the best players in this conference if not one of the best (guard) tandems in the country,” Combs said. “You just have to hope they don’t go off.”

NU (4-16, 1-6) comes into the game after losing four straight to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio State.

Junior forward Ifeoma Okonkwo has scored in double-figures in four straight games, including 30- and 20-point performances the last two times out.

She is averaging 12.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. In the last two games, the Wildcats have lost a 17-point second-half lead to then-No. 21 Iowa and outscored No. 3 Ohio State in the second half but still lost by 12.

“This team has to be able to put 40 minutes of basketball together,” Combs said. “We just have not been able to get over that hump yet.”

Reach Abe Rakov at [email protected].