It will be the largest crowd Fordham has faced all season. Pardon, correction please. The crowd will exceed the culmination of all the crowds that the Lady Rams (21-8) have played in front of this season.

Funny thing, too. As Penn State (25-2) hosts the first-round NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament game at 7 p.m. today at Rec Hall, 16th-seeded Fordham is thriving on the opportunity to play in front of thousands. After all, the Patriot League champions are making their first NCAA Tournament appearance.

"This is not only the best team we're going to face this year, this is the best team we've ever faced in our history," Fordham Coach Kevin Morris said. "We've had no problem playing in front of 50-60 people on the road. This is kind of our reward. We don't get to play in front of 7,000 people -- ever. We didn't come here to lose."

And the Lady Rams have nothing to lose. Recent history shows that Penn State has been susceptible to early round upsets by lesser-known teams. But Morris' team, which is 9-0 on the road and only 4-3 at home, will not look at the past to judge the Lady Lions.

"I think at the college level (as opposed to professional), it's different," said Morris, who earned Patriot League coach-of-the-year honors in his first season at the helm. "The turnover is rapid. This is a brand-new Penn State team."

That's a notion Penn State Coach Rene Portland will readily support. She calls her No. 2-ranked Lady Lion squad "unique" and says that she's prepared the Lady Lions for Fordham just as she would any other opponent.

"We treat Fordham with the utmost respect," said Portland, recently-named Big Ten coach of the year. "We don't look past anybody."

The Lady Rams are guided by 5-foot-7 junior point guard Denise Hammersley (15.1 points per game) and 6-foot forwards Tammilyn Borkowski (6.5 rebounds per game) and Kelly Fitzpatrick (11.6 ppg, 9.2 rpg).

Said Morris, "The only thing we expect is for them to go out and play hard for 40 minutes."

Note:

-- Ticket sales for today's game were at about 3,600 last night. Tickets can be purchased from 8:30 a.m. until tip-off at Rec Hall ticket offices for a cost of $3 for students and $6 for adults. Beaver Stadium ticket office is also open.

"I expect that we'll sell about 5,000 to 5,500 (tickets) for the game," Ticket Manager Bud Meredith said.