St. Joe's is favored with its Hodges machine, but Rutgers is happy with its postseason spot; Penn State is the host at 13-0 and West Virginia could possibly shock.

St. Joseph's and West Virginia will begin game one of the Atlantic 10 women's basketball tournament at 6 tonight while Rutgers and Penn State are set to tipoff at 8. Both games will be played in Rec Hall.

The following is a team-by-team preview for each of the A-10's semifinal teams:

St. Joseph's (1st seed) -- As winners of 20 of their last 22 games, the Lady Hawks (23-5) are poised to fulfill the tournament seedings this weekend.

The team's only two losses in that time have been at the buzzer -- Rutgers (78-77) and Penn State (90-88). Other than that, the team has strolled through its schedule, earning a No. 23 ranking.

"If they're not confident they have problems," Coach Jim Foster said.

Much of the success for the team has to be attributed to A-10 Player of the Year Dale Hodges. The senior center led the conference in scoring (27.3) and rebounding (12.3) this past season, all while being hounded at times by double and triple team defense.

Fellow first team selection Ellen Shields was second in scoring (13.3) and Cindy Andersen totaled 116 assists. All of it adds up a 16-2 conference record.

In last year's semifinals, West Virginia upset the Lady Hawks, 76-59, on its way to winning the conference tournament. And, while the two teams are meeting again, Foster said this is a new season with new circumstances.

"I don't look at things that way, we came up here to play a couple of basketball games. We earned the right to be here because we've had a very successful season," he said.

Rutgers (2nd seed) -- Leaving home for the first time in three years in A-10 Final Four action, the Lady Knights must face a team they've played twice in the last two weeks, Penn State.

Even though those games were close, an 82-80 Penn State win on Feb. 19 and a 73-66 Rutgers triumph on March 3, Coach Theresa Grentz is relaxed going into the game.

"I'm just glad we're here," she said. "March is my month, I'm having a good time. We could miss our first 20 shots; I just don't know what's going to happen."

One thing Grentz can count on is the play of A-10 first-team selection Vicky Picott, who averaged 16.8 points, and second-team selection Tanya Hansen (14.2). With only one senior (Suzanne Cooper) in the starting lineup, Rutgers used its young lineup to share the regular-season conference championship (16-2) and compile a 20-8 record overall.

"(As for playing Penn State again), we're so young, we don't remember much," Grentz said. "We're excited about this tournament. When we were 6-5 at the beginning of the year, it was a little shaky, but we stepped up and are playing well."

Penn State (3rd seed) -- After the horrors of last season, the Lady Lions are poised to move one step closer to their season-long goal: the Atlantic 10 championship.

"We have to be pleased with the position that we are in," Coach Rene Portland said, "and take the ride as long as we can."

Driving the A-Train for Penn State will be A-10 first team selection Susan Robinson. She averaged 20.1 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. She is on pace to re-write the Lady Lion record books and this year she set new records for most points by a sophomore (562) and she is the earliest player to reach 1,000 career points (1,065).

Penn State will also need timely performances this weekend from A-10 third-team selection Tanya Garner, who averaged 14.6 points and grabbed 52 steals during the season, and forward Lynn Dougherty, who has hammered the nets with 36 treys. Last season, she hit just two.

"We have nothing to be afraid of, we have to go out and play," Portland said.

The Lady Lions have rebounded from last season's 14-14 record to stand at 22-6 (15-3 in the A-10). Penn State is undefeated in 13 games at home.

West Virginia (5th seed) -- In 1989, the Lady Mountaineers were in a similar position. Seeded fifth in this tournament, they started their run by defeating Penn State in Rec Hall. When all was said and done, they captured their first tournament title.

Returning to the start of last year's heroics, West Virginia must erase its woes of losing badly to St. Joseph's twice, 76-57 and 80-60.

"It was fun last year," Coach Scott Harrelson said. "St. Joe's blasted us twice in a row, so if anyone's going to be overconfident, they might be. (But) when we last played them, we stressed defense and we were blown out. This time we'll stress offense. I don't know if we can stop them, we'll just try to outscore them."

To get to this point, the Lady Mountaineers defeated Temple, 85-76 in the quarterfinals at Morgantown. To get to that game, though, the team had to defeat Temple, 72-70, on the road in order to secure the home-court advantage.