Both teams have young lineups, and both felt they would be playing somewhere else -- the women's basketball team at home and Florida State on the road.

Yet at 7:30 tonight in Tallahassee, Fla., the two will meet in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Lady Lions (24-6), No. 7 in the East Region, qualified for the tournament by winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament. The No. 10 seeded Lady Seminoles (21-8) received an at-large bid.

After their 90-78 loss to Southern Mississippi in the Metro Conference tournament, the Lady Seminoles believed they would be sent packing for the NCAAs.

"We were surprised," Coach Marynell Meadors said. "We knew we were going to travel, we knew we were going somewhere."

Instead, the team will play the game in the 3,525-seat Tully Gymnasium.

All season, Penn State's four sophomore and one junior starting lineup, plus its strong reserve play has been applauded for what it has accomplished. In this game, it might have met its match.

Florida State starts three juniors and two freshmen, and two freshmen come off the bench first. Third-year player and guard Wanda Burns (17.8 points per game) leads the team in scoring, followed by forwards Chris Davis (14.0 ppg) and Chantelle Dishman (11.4 ppg, 7.1 rebounds an outing).

"We have so much depth, we're pretty well-rounded," Meadors said. "If you stop Wanda Burns, you don't necessarily stop our team."

Nine players average at least 10 minutes a game, a statistic comparable to Penn State's reserve numbers.

Florida State played seven games against teams ranked in the final regular- season Top 25 poll and finished win a 1-6 record. However, its largest loss was only 80-63 to No. 9 Auburn.

"I think the strength of our schedule should help us," Meadors said. "But we really haven't played any eastern teams so I'm not sure exactly what to expect. The game will be (probably) more physical and we'll go with that. I think it'll be a good brand of basketball."

Meadors also knows her team must stop the tandem of Susan Robinson and Tanya Garner, who have played large roles in Penn State's resurgence from last season's 14-14 season. Last year was the first year the team didn't qualify for the NCAAs since the tournament's inception in 1982.

"Obviously we are very, very happy to be in the NCAA tournament," Coach Rene Portland said. "We are very pleased with what the kids did in winning the conference and we have to go to Florida to get the job done."

One advantage that the Lady Lions might hold is rebounding. In the two A-10 tournament games, the Lady Lions outrebounded Rutgers and St. Joseph's, 95-67. Center Kathy Phillips is 6'3"; Florida State's tallest starters are Dishman and Tracy Walker, both at 6'1".

The winner of the game will travel to Charlottesville, Va., on Sunday for a 2 p.m. tipoff against No. 2 Virginia.

Notes: Penn State holds a 2-0 lead in the Florida State series, but the teams' last meeting win was in 1984 . . . Susan Robinson's 42 consecutive free throws is just three shy of the NCAA record for a single season set by Amy Slowikowski (Kent State) and Wendy Scholtens (Vanderbilt) . . . The Lady Lions are 4-1 in first round games, 6-7 overall in NCAA play.