Is Jess Strom so good that the Penn State squad would simply collapse without her?

Maybe.

Hit with a bad case of flu, Strom didn't make the trip to Evanston. Penn State went on to lose to the Big Ten's perennial bottom-dweller, Northwestern.

Tanisha Wright had to play point. "Tanisha is holding the ball instead of getting the ball," said coach Rene Portland. "That's a big problem. We're a team of creativity. We're a team that says, 'OK, stop that play and we'll give you another one.' We play that game with people."

"I don't know if the realization has hit of what we just did," said Samantha McComb. "They were sitting alone at the top of the Big Ten at 7-0. I think it will hit us a little later, but we just knocked off a very good team."

Strom is expected to be back for Sunday's game against Minnesota.