HARTFORD, Conn. -- The whole scene looked like it was out of a movie. Something like The Mighty Ducks or even Rocky.

The moment that looked made for television happened during the Lady Lions' 55-49 win against Notre Dame on Saturday. As if scripted, the Connecticut Huskies -- the two-time defending national champions and divas of the women's hardwood -- emerged from their locker room at the Hartford Civic Center during a timeout, waving and blowing kisses to the crowd.

The mere presence of the champs sitting in the stands detracted much attention from the game that would decide who the challenger would be. The crowd of 14,253, made up mostly of Connecticut fans, erupted like rock stars had just appeared before a concert.

As Penn State struggled to put away a rather unskilled Notre Dame team, it just seemed so symbolic that, on the night when this group of Penn State players advanced farther in the NCAA tournament than ever before, UConn, the program Penn State wishes it was, again stole the show.

The whole thing seemed so choreographed that I was surprised the Lions and Huskies didn't exchange glares to accentuate the conflict for the camera. But I guess that would have been too appropriate. Such things rarely occur outside the movies.

Happy endings, on the other hand, tend occur in real life a bit more often, and the Lions will have a chance to write theirs tonight when they face Connecticut for the right to advance to the Final Four in New Orleans.

It's an ending Penn State fans, who have been starving for athletic success lately, are dying to see -- and the achievement the players have been building toward for three years.

It is the Lady Lions' chance to prove that, just once, they are better than the team the rest of women's hoops is so often in awe of.

I would never have said this three days ago, but, believe it or not, even with Penn State playing on UConn's home floor, the Miracle-like ending can happen. Maybe things can happen the way this triumphant, Hollywood-esque ending seems destined to be written.

Maybe if Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Tanisha Wright can stop Diana Taurasi from freely dribbling and distributing around the perimeter, then maybe there is a chance for Penn State.

There's also Penn State's superior point guard, Jess Strom, the Lions' clutch performer. If the junior can get up and down the court and play a little free-lancing street ball with Wright like the two did against Virginia Tech, then the Lions just might get it done.

And no one should forget senior guard Kelly Mazzante. She won't have to do it all, but she must score if Penn State is to win.

If she does, the Lions have a shot at cutting down the nets in Hartford tonight.

And if, for perhaps the first time this tournament, all three of these 1,000-point scorers could find slip into a stride at the same, that's when these ladies will have a real chance of making Old State even more proud.

In keeping with the cliché, it would have to be a have to be a storybook-like team effort.

But Penn State fans should try not to dream too big.

All of those above are if's, and none of them will be accomplished easily.

Not when Penn State is playing a team stockpiled with talent like UConn, a team that returned every starter from last year's national championship squad.

A team playing on its home court, in front of its home fans, by its own campus.

However, if the Lions can overcome the obstacles that faced them all year and beat mighty UConn, it would be a quite story and, frankly, quite an upset.

Heck, maybe Hollywood could even make a movie out of it.