When the women's basketball team received the third seed in the NCAA Midwest Region, it was automatically assured that this year's run for the Final Four will be a little less burdensome than last year's.

When the selection committee announced its seedings Sunday, the Lady Lions relinquished last year's stigma as the NCAA Tournament's No. 1 team, handing it to Virginia.

Now, the top-ranked Cavaliers can deal with the enormous expectations as well as the plethora of teams drooling at the prospect of knocking off No. 1. Already, the Lady Lions notice the difference.

"I think we definitely have the attitude that now we're not the hunted anymore," forward Lynn Dougherty said. "We're the hunters. We're going to go out and play the way we should have played last year -- with the same intensity we've had throughout the year."

Said Kathy Phillips, "People hunted for us at the beginning of this year (too) and we're sick of it. We've turned it around and now we're the hunters -- we're looking for everybody else."

As history has shown, Penn State is a particularly potent hunter of higher ranked teams. Virginia can vouch for that.

Last year, the Lady Lions travelled to Charlottesville, Va., and earned a No. 1 ranking by knocking the Cavaliers out of it. In 1990, an unranked Penn State squad defeated then 10th-ranked Virginia. All told, the Lady Lions have upset five Top 10 teams in the last five seasons.

But despite the gift for the shocker, it has been uncommon to hear Penn State mentioned as a Final Four contender. Early attention centers around top seeds and perinnial powers Virginia, Tennessee, Stanford and Iowa -- which is where the Lady Lions want it to stay.

"If they don't want to recognize us, that's fine with us," Phillips said. "We'll just come down and knock them off when they don't expect it."

Barring upsets, the Lady Lions will get their first shot to play the hunter role in the regional finals at Boulder, Colo., against No. 2 seed Mississippi.

However, Coach Rene Portland hasn't forgotten that Penn State will be the hunted when the Arizona State/DePaul winner visits Rec Hall on Saturday in the tournament's second round.

Regardless of seedings and upset possibilities, Portland said, all 48 teams still hold tight to the same goal -- a trip to Los Angeles.

"We have to stay focused on what we have to do Saturday," she added. "Either opponent that comes in here probably has the same dream that we have. Maybe it was just a lack of respect last year (in the loss to James Madison) that cost us everything.

"You play with the will to win."