Come Sunday, it will have been 14 days since the Lady Lions were knocked out of the Big Ten tournament's semifinals.

The bad news for the team is that No. 4-seeded Penn State has lived the past two weeks with the thought of not winning the conference tournament. The good news is, however, this reprieve has given the Lady Lions some much-needed rest heading into the NCAA tournament.

Penn State (19-10) will take on No. 13 Liberty at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Comcast Center in College Park, Md. The game will be televised on ESPN2. The Lady Lions are not expecting the extra rest to go to waste with an early exit.

"I've been just resting up and relaxing," said senior guard Tanisha Wright, who has averaged 16.6 points in her 10 NCAA tournament games. "Because six games, it's gonna be a long stretch."

Six games would mean an appearance in the tournament championship game, a place these Lady Lions have never been. Last season they were ousted by Connecticut in the Elite Eight.

For the seniors, their careers will avoid extinction round-by-round.

"There's a sense of urgency now that every game could be our last, and that motivates you," senior point guard Jess Strom said.

The Flames have made it to the NCAA tournament nine consecutive years and are led by 6-foot-8 senior center, Katie Feenstra, the Big South's Player of the Year for the past three seasons.

Penn State and Liberty have never played each other, but the Lady Lions know that in order to play the winner of the No. 5 DePaul/No. 12 Virginia Tech match up, no team can be taken lightly this time of year.

"Around this time every game is gonna be tough," Wright said. "You're not gonna have the easy, cupcake games. This is tournament time and everyone brings their best."

After a week of rest over spring break, this past week has been dedicated to fixing the things that went wrong against Michigan State in the conference tournament. In that game, Penn State gave up 83 points while letting the Spartans shoot 56.3 percent from the field. Michigan State didn't necessarily have a stalwart defense that night, giving up 76, but the Lady Lions pride themselves on their defense and it just didn't come through.

"Our defense let us down a little bit," Penn State coach Rene Portland said. "That's something that is our forte so that should be easily fixed. ... That's probably the easiest thing for me to fix so that's why I'm so optimistic. Our offense is doing a great job right now. But our defense just needed some rest."

Liberty only has two players averaging double figures in scoring, with Feenstra leading the team with 17.6 points per game. Senior guard Kristal Tharp is the second option, averaging 11.5 points.

Strom, who rolled her ankle in the first half against Michigan State, said she'd be fine for Sunday. Both she and Wright were hurt down the stretch. Tired legs possibly accounted for their combined 22-of-64 shooting in the Big Ten tournament, but none of the five seniors want their last game to come early.

"I'm more motivated and just really excited," Wright said. "We want to go out on top. Motivated, definitely. You always have to be motivated going into the NCAA tournament."