Coming off its worst lost of the season, the No. 18 women's basketball team will try to "rebound" when it battles traditional rival West Virginia in a tough Atlantic 10 matchup at 1:45 tomorrow afternoon in Morgantown.

"They are going to come out ready to get us," forward Lynn Dougherty said. "We are not going to take it lightly; it's a big rivalry."

The Lady Lions (12-3, 6-0 in the A-10) will look for revenge against the defending A-10 tournament champion Lady Mountaineers, who knocked the Lady Lions out of the quarterfinals, 76-64, at Rec Hall last year. West Virginia has also won the last two meetings at Morgantown.

West Virginia (9-5, 3-2) will be the second road game this week for the Lady Lions, after their 85-60 debacle against Maryland. Coach Rene Portland and the players said they were embarrassed after that game and that people they didn't even know asked them what happened.

"It's interesting, (because the players) used the word embarrassed. It proves to me they have an awful lot of pride," Portland said. "They do care. I was embarrassed, too, and it's nice to hear they're on the same level as their coach."

To earn a road win, the Lady Lions will have to pick up their intensity, starting with defense.

"We have to get our heads back on and play the way we should have," Dougherty said. "(And that starts with) defensive pressure and rebounding.

Against Maryland, the Lady Lions were outrebounded, 44-32, including 28 defensive rebounds.

"The whole team, when the offense goes sour, has to crank up the defense and rebounding," Portland said. "If we do that we'll get back on track."

Dougherty said that the team, coming off its lowest point total (60) of the season, also worked on its offense this week. The previous low was 71 in a loss to Purdue Dec. 3.

After having their 10-game winning streak snapped, there is nothing more the Lady Lions want than to start a new streak beginning with West Virginia.

"We have 12 conference games coming up and we are looking at 12- 0," Dougherty she said.

"(Our goal now) is to win 12 straight to end the season," Portland said. "Right now we're going to play our conference and we need to win (in) our conference. Every win now is another day in the NCAA (Tournament )."

Portland also wants the Lady Lions to move up in the polls. They entered the Associated Press Top 25 poll after their win against Virginia on Jan. 6 and have steadily moved up since to 18. Portland said they want to get into the top 15 because the 15-25 teams are "trash teams" that just get revolved every Sunday.

But before they can continue to climb in the poll, they have to get by the Lady Mountaineers. The Lady Mountaineers played St. Bonaventure yesterday.

Sophomore guard and team captain Rosemary Kosiorek and sophomore forward Donna Abbott lead the Lady Mountaineers.

Kosiorek leads the team in scoring (16.1 points per game) and assists (71). Abbott, last week's A-10 Player of the Week, averages 15.3 ppg and leads the team in rebounds (8.2 rebounds per game).

"They are a pretty good all-around team," Dougherty said.