Just about everywhere Coach Rene Portland has gone this season, she has carried a momento from last year's NCAA Tournament.

Portland need only reach into her briefcase to recall the memories of the women's basketball team's 1991 drive for the national championships -- a drive that ended abruptly in the second-round at the feet of James Madison, 73-71.

"It's a reality that I carried in my briefcase everyday," Portland said. "If you look at the clipboard that I usually have with me, the boxscore from last year's game -- the original boxscore that I carried home that night -- is right there."

Right there are the prevailing images of the game, too. The Lady Lions blowing a 12-point halftime lead . . . the Dukes celebrating wildly on the Rec Hall floor after Tanya Garner's final shot was blocked . . . Penn State players walking reluctantly to the lockerroom.

But Portland isn't the only one who can readily recall the reality.

"I felt lost (after the game)," senior Kathy Phillips said. "I didn't know what to do with myself. I expected to beat James Madison so we could practice the next day and get ready for regionals.

"I just felt really empty inside and there was nothing we could do."

Tomorrow, Penn State will finally get its chance to do something.

Eleventh-seeded DePaul will take the Rec Hall floor for the second time this year to face the Lady Lions in the tournament's second round. The Blue Devils defeated Arizona State, 67-65, Wednesday night to advance.

Having already defeated DePaul at home by 17 points, the Lady Lions should feel a little more comfortable about this year's second-round contest.

Penn State led the entire game and blanked the Blue Demons in the final three minutes of the contest to provide the comfortable margin of victory.

But before the Lady Lions can begin to think past their lower-seeded opponent, that James Madison thing hits again.

Penn State had a comfortable lead over the Dukes when it was up 12 points at the half . . . that is until JMU erased it in the first seven minutes of the second half.

The Lady Lions will use that as a motivation tool to play all-out for the full 40 minutes.

"I think this is a different team this year," Portland said, "and they're different because of what happened to us last year. The staff is more in tune to the possiblities of the positives that could happen to us this year."

With a victory, the immediate positive is a trip to Boulder, Colo., for the Midwest Regional semifinals. Then, there is always the dream to reach Los Angeles and the program's first-ever Final Four.

Because travel arrangements had to be made in advance, the Lady Lions already booked their tickets to Boulder. But don't take that as an act of cockiness. Penn State plans to look past DePaul only when the final buzzer sounds.

That way, the Lady Lions won't have to carry any more bitter memories with them.

"I know that feeling is still in my gut," forward Lynn Dougherty said, "and I know I don't want it to come back up again."