The last time the women's basketball team played Virginia, it had less than two days to prepare because of a Thursday night game with Duquesne. All that happened was the team strolled to a 90-77 victory against the then-No. 10 Lady Cavaliers.

Hoping for a repeat performance, the Lady Lions will travel to take on the Lady Cavaliers at 2 Sunday afternoon in Charlottesville, Va., for a second-round NCAA game. The Lady Lions (25-6) are No. 7 in the East Region and earned the right to play Virginia with their 83-73 win at Florida State Wednesday night; The second-seeded Lady Cavaliers 025-6) received a bye in the opening round.

The game was originally scheduled for tomorrow, but was changed because of a possible conflict with the Virginia men's team playing in the second round of the NCAA Southeast Regional at Richmond.

In Penn State's victory on Jan. 6 at Rec Hall, the team benefited from strong outside shooting as it hit eight 3-pointers. Also, four players scored in double figures. The team will need a similar effort Sunday.

"The bench is important," Coach Rene Portland said after Wednesday's triumph in Tallahassee. "They've been a key all season with their unselfish play."

In that game, center Adrie DeVries (14 points), Shelly Caplinger (five), Terri Williams (four) and Kim Lazor (two) all came through.

However, there are two differences in the matchup this time. First of all, it will be played at Virginia, where the Lady Cavaliers are 12-1 this season. Secondly, the Lady Wahoos will have point guard Dawn Staley running the team. In the first meeting, Staley was recovering from a knee injury. She played sparingly, but was not effective.

When she's healthy, though, she averages 17 points per game. Other scoring threats are Tammi Reiss (15.4 ppg and a 48 percent 3-point shooter) and Heather Burge (12.5). With twin Heidi, the Burge sisters have developed quite a strong inside game this season. Both are 6'4". They are two of the reasons the Lady Cavaliers have outrebounded their opponents by an average of 43-35.

After the Jan. 6 game, Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said, "We have the potential to be a great team, but we're just not intelligent enough yet." In the two months hence, the team has achieved a No. 12 national ranking in the last regular season Top 25 poll and won the ACC tournament championship.

The two teams have met four times previously and Virginia holds a 3-1 advantage, but two of the games were tossups. In 1987 at Rec Hall, the Lady Cavaliers prevailed, 59-54, while last year in Charlottesville, Penn State jumped out to a 20-4 lead, but fell, 85-76.

"We're really excited," forward Susan Robinson said before the tournament began. "We're missing a lot of school, but everyone is ready."

Notes: The Lady Cavaliers are averaging 76 points a game and giving up 67 . . . The Lady Lion Booster Club will sponsor a bus to the game, leaving State College Sunday morning . . . The last time the Lady Lions qualified for the second round in 1988, they dropped a 94-66 decision at Auburn.