Competing against six other teams, the No. 1 seeded women's gymnastics team will take a shot at its eighth-consecutive Atlantic 10 crown when it travels to the University of Massachusetts for the A-10 Championships at 6 tomorrow night.

"The A-10 is a high energy meet for us because we have normally won the meet," uneven bars specialist Kira Rohm said. "It's easy for us to get psyched up for it because it's a high scoring meet. It's also a meet for us to 1really start fine tuning things."

Penn State will be without junior Paula Bright, however. While practicing a double twist on floor exercise on Tuesday, she injured a ligament in her left leg.

". . . Paula is one of the leaders of the team," Rohm said. "But, we are lucky that we do have a lot of depth and we have people to fill in."

Along with capturing the team title lest year, Lady Lion Lynn Crane won the all-around and Rhom captured first place on the uneven bars.

But, Penn State's reign as champion is not intimidating UMass coach Alfie Mitchell, also A-10 tournament director. UMass is the No. 3 seed.

"What I expect from them (UMass) is a really consistent performance," he said. "We could win it if we have a really good meet."

Mitchell said the meet will give his team a good opportunity to see what the Lady Lions look like now, since UMass will meet Penn State, again, at NCAA regionals.

The Lady Lions posted their highest season score and a school record of 189.45 two weeks ago. Allison Barber emerged as the team's best all-arounder and topped the school record books in the all-around when she hit 38.55 in last week's meet. Kim Thrasher holds the No. 2 all-around spot with a high of 38.00.

Penn State (12-7) has not met any A-10 teams this season. Last year, in its only regular-season A-10 matchup, Penn State easily overtook West Virginia, 185.80-175.75.

Below is a quick look at the other A-10 teams. Seedings for the championship meet are based on the highest team scores from two away meets, two home meets and one from either. The meet will be held in a rotating format, with three byes for each of the teams.

WEST VIRGINIA: The Lady Mountaineers, seeded second, come into the A-10 Championships with a 16-9 record. The team scored its highest last Sunday with a 186.45-180.45 win over Rutgers. Susie Pierce narrowly holds the all-around top spot with a 37.70, followed by Jana Terry's 37.60. Andrea VeSelice is the No. 2 all-arounder with a high of 37.10. A top competitor on beam, Heather Myers, is out with a knee injury. West Virginia has also defeated A-10 rivals Rhode Island (182.60-176.80), Temple (180.15-179.50) and George Washington (184.10-178.15).

UMASS: The host team (13-2) reached its highest score in its last meet when it beat Northeastern and A-10 foe Temple. It outscored the Lady Owls, 186.85-181.45. Kristin Turmail leads UMass in the all-around with a 37.55, followed by Erika Baxter and freshman Tammy Marshall. Marshall has garnered a 9.7 on balance beam and a 9.7 on vault. The team won its two other A-10 meets against Rutgers (185.20-180.75) and Rhode Island (181.50-176.65).

UMass will not have that much of a homecourt advantage since the team usually competes in its workout gym for home meets, but will host this meet in its basketball gym.

TEMPLE: Temple, No. 4 seed, is 4-2 in the A-10 and 16-11 overall. The Lady Owls passed by George Washington twice during the season. On Feb. 18, Temple captured its highest team score of the season, a 182.85. Top contenders on the team are Sandra Mitchel, leader in the all-around (37.65), uneven bars and balance beam (9.5) and Jennifer Lefkow, who has the season's highest scores on vault (9.65) and in floor exercise (9.55). The team has been plagued with several injuries during the season.

GEORGE WASHINGTON: The fifth-seeded Lady Colonials are at the .500 mark with a 16-16 record and scored their top team score, breaking a GW record on March 9, with a 181.75. Freshman Kathy Goonan has earned the No. 1 spot in the all-around (36.90), followed by junior Lisa Geczik (36.85). Geczik holds the school record in the floor exercise, with a 9.50. GW knocked out only one of its A-10 competitors -- Rutgers, 175.60-174.45, in the regular season.

RUTGERS: The sixth-seeded Scarlet Knights hold a 10-8 record. Rutgers enters the meet as one of the underdogs, after losing its past five meets. In its fall to WVU last week, it neared its season high score of 180.50. The team's strong point rests in the vault, in which junior Tricia Escalante secured a Rutgers' record with her 9.45 vault. The top all-arounders are sophomore Susie Lennox, co-captain Mary Ann McCheng (junior) and Escalante.

RHODE ISLAND: The team (5-10) had its best meet of the season last Thursday at Cal.-Santa Barbara, scoring a 180.60, breaking a school record. URI also set new team records on the vault (46.30) and uneven bars (45.35). Kris Reyman leads in the all-around with a high of 37.20.