When the Penn State women's basketball team was preparing for Tuesday night's matchup against South Carolina, head coach Rene Portland organized an unusual drill at practice. Rather than doing something that pertained basketball, Portland made her team sit on the bench and practice -- celebrating.

"They weren't bringing enough emotion to the table," Portland said. "I watched film of our game [on Sunday], and great things happened and two people were cheering on the bench. The bench should be going crazy. When kids come out of the game, they should hustle off the court, not walk off the court. That's when we're at our best. Emotion is a big part of what we want to do."

The Lady Lions (3-0) have plenty of reasons to be excited as they prepare for Notre Dame (2-0) at 7 tonight at the Bryce Jordan Center. Penn State has started 3-0 for the first time since 2002-03. The flawless start is a big turnaround from last season's 1-2 beginning.

Penn State is undefeated against the Fighting Irish all-time, winning all four matchups. The most recent victory came in the 2004 NCAA tournament, a 55-49 win en route to an Elite Eight appearance.

However, this Notre Dame contest will not be an easy end to the Lady Lions' current three-game homestand.

"We just take one game at a time," junior captain Kam Gissendanner said. "Notre Dame is a great team that has great tradition, and we're not taking this team lightly."

Portland said the Fighting Irish like to play zone defense, which the Lions struggled with in the beginning of the Syracuse game last Sunday, only managing a seven-point lead at halftime. However, once the Lady Lions involved the perimeter players in the offense, they took a commanding lead, winning by 25. Penn State will be looking to replicate a strong perimeter attack against the Irish to counteract the zone defense.

The arrival of the Irish in Happy Valley also brings the return of a former Penn State recruit, now on the Notre Dame roster. Junior guard Charel Allen leads Notre Dame in scoring with 18 points per game. She also led the team with four steals in an overtime win at Bowling Green on Monday.

"She's just a great, great player," Portland said. "She's one of those recruits it's hard to get mad at when they pick another school because you just liked her. We're happy she's doing a great job there for them."

Former Lady Lion Angie Potthoff, who played for Penn State from 1993-97, will also be returning to Penn State as a Notre Dame assistant coach.

Tonight's contest will be the fourth game in a seven-day stretch for the Lady Lions. After defeating South Carolina on Tuesday in a physical game featuring 49 total fouls, fatigue may start to affect the Penn State squad. However, the team's emotion will be the factor needed to carry it through the game.

"It's been very difficult for them," Portland said, "to come out of a big game and then the next day we're allowed to say one sentence about the game because we have to get ready for the next one. Some kids are gonna be real tired. Emotionally, we're gonna have to talk ourselves out of some things like that."