Winning at home is a piece of cake.

It's winning on the road that presents a problem, just take a look at Big Ten women's basketball.

Four of the conference's teams -- Penn State, Ohio State, Purdue and Minnesota -- all remain undefeated on their home courts, but have a combined 14 losses on the road. Teams are utilizing the presence of their home crowds to win games and becoming "fan friendly" is now atop the list for being successful.

"Obviously we're doing a good job on campus, but I think that it's a pretty well known statistic that most teams are protecting their own gyms," Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland said. "We're just happy we can establish that."

Up until two weeks ago, Michigan State was perfect at home, but the Spartans were defeated by the Lady Lions of Penn State by a narrow 64-60 margin. Over the last few seasons, Michigan State held a strong presence in East Lansing, giving visiting teams a tough matchup.

"We lost some games their [Michigan State] last year, we got on a roll, and we intend to keep that roll going for a long time," Portland said.

With a conference record of 11-2, Penn State holds the top spot in the conference, but has suffered on the road, losing to Purdue back in January by seven points, and more recently was handed a five-point upset by Iowa. Last week, Penn State faced the Boilermakers for the second time this season and crushed them by 12 points.

Purdue leads the conference in average home attendance with 7,130 per game. That statistic also ranks eighth nationally. A total of nine of the conference's teams rank in the top 50 nationally for attendance at their home courts.

Even programs that have poor overall records like Indiana have the majority of their conference success at home. With a home record of 4-3 and an average attendance of 2,291, the Hoosiers have played solid at home, yet continue to go winless on the road.

Apparently the sports marketing departments of universities are earning their paycheck in their efforts to attract the home crowd.

"It was National Women and Girls in Sports Day game last week," Indiana women's basketball coach Kathi Bennett. "There were 1,200 girl scouts at our last game. Our marketing department is working really hard. Winning the Big Ten conference tournament last year helped us a lot."

At Penn State, the success at home partially coincides with their advertising. Two times this year, the attendance at the Bryce Jordan Center exceeded the 10,000 mark. Both times, the program reached out to the fans and had free giveaways at the door.

"We have worked really hard to become a community program," Portland said. "Last week we had a clinic with 140 little kids before the game. We changed our times until 7 p.m. and it's starting to pay off and winning helps. I think the community appreciates it. I know that they do make an impact in the game."