HARTFORD, Conn. - Earlier this week, Penn State women's basketball coach Rene Portland needed to have a sit down with seniors Kelly Mazzante and Jess Brungo.

With Penn State heading to the Sweet 16 for the third consecutive year, the senior duo had been a little bit off in the game that got them there. Both usually an integral part of the multi-pronged attack of the Lady Lions' offense, Mazzante was frustrated all night against Virginia Tech in the second round, contributing just nine points, while Brungo finished with only four points, but also four personal fouls.

"After the last round, Rene talked to Kelly and I about the need to step up and have senior leadership and that we kind of let our team down in the first two rounds," Brungo said. "She had a few words for us."

The result must have been exactly what Portland hoped it would be, as the duo was the main impetus behind Penn State's defeat of Notre Dame in the Sweet 16 on Saturday.

The duo came out on fire, as Mazzante grabbed the first steal of the game 18 seconds into it, from which she drove down court for the lay-up. In turn, Brungo grabbed a rebound off a Mazzante miss and put it back in. Mazzante then coolly hit a three, and the team was ahead 7-2 at the 17:47 mark.

"We really knew what we had to do in the first five minutes to get things started," Brungo said. "In the back of my head, I knew what needed to be done, but it's always good to hear it from someone else and know that someone else has the confidence in you to want you to be the one to step up."

The game soon got tougher, as the Fighting Irish fired back relentlessly. When shots weren't falling and when the Lions' offense was struggling to function against the zone, frustrations started to build. But the seniors, remembering four years worth of frustrations, did not fail to perform under the pressure, as Brungo finished with 20 points and Mazzante with 17. Not only did they comprise the majority of the team's offense, they also served to calm down younger teammates.

"At a point in the game, I was really frustrated, and Kelly came over to me and said, 'Come on, we need you, keep shooting,' " junior point guard Jess Strom said. "I think that's what we needed, to think you're gonna make one eventually."

In the crucial final minutes, the ones that decided the game, the pair made plays essential to getting over the Sweet 16 hump they have been thinking of for three seasons. Mazzante hit a jumper with 46 seconds to go and grabbed a steal 14 seconds later. With 13 seconds to go, Brungo grabbed a defensive rebound, drew a foul and hit two free throws to seal the win.

"It really is the difference [to have the two seniors]," Strom said. "They don't want it to be their last game. They came back from last game really well, and I think we did kind of lean on them."

And with a freshman starting center, Reicina Russell, playing in her first NCAA tournament, support from the team's two most experience players has been extremely important to her. When Russell sprained her right knee after a missed lay-up early in the second half and had to be taken out of the game, it was this support that motivated her to get back on the floor.

"When I went down, I was like, 'I have to get out there and come back there for the seniors,' " Russell said.

"No doubt that I was hurting, but I was like, 'Whatever, this is the time when they need me, and I need to do something for them for a change.' "

Russell returned just over four minutes later, and credits the seniors' voices for soothing her as she re-entered the game and finished her 33 minutes of play.

With what is no doubt the biggest game of the season on the horizon, Mazzante and Brungo will once again have to bring their best game to the Hartford Civic Center and help their teammates arrive with theirs as well if they want another week of basketball. They, after all, are the reason this team has been dreaming Final Four all season, and now is the chance for them to become the reason this team realized that dream.

With that in mind, a chat with Portland probably won't be necessary before tonight.