In the end the Big Ten Conference was stronger than even Rene Portland thought.

The Penn State women's basketball team was one of six Big Ten teams selected to the 2002 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Tournament. Portland's Lady Lions (21-11, 11-5 Big Ten) earned a No. 4 seed and the possibility of two home games at The Bryce Jordan Center.

"We're thrilled for the league, I'll be honest," Portland said. "Six from our league shows that the league was a whole lot stronger than even I thought."

Penn State joins fellow conference members Purdue and Iowa in the Mideast Regional bracket. Wisconsin, Minnesota and Big Ten Tournament champs Indiana also made the field of 64.

The Lions' No. 4 seed comes as a bit of a surprise after a season that saw them get off to a slow start and compile 11 losses. But Penn State was helped by its advancement to the finals of the conference championship and its strong in-conference record.

"We were second in the league and second in the tournament," Portland said. "Two and two in a league that sent six teams, which is great for the teams that are in it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

Penn State's first roadblock to the Final Four will be the 13th seed, Chattanooga. The Lions take on the Mocs (23-7) on Friday and the winner will play either Creighton or Florida International. That game will also be played Friday at the Jordan Center.

Hosting a first round game comes as a nice surprise to the team that has had to travel two out of the last three years. In both 1999 and 2001 the Lions had to make the trip to Louisiana and were ousted from the host site.

If the Lions make it out of Happy Valley unscathed they could be forced to play the No. 1 team in all the land. Unbeaten Connecticut (33-0) claimed the No. 1 seed in the Mideast Region.

Most would see this as an unenviable position, but Portland is happy to take the home court advantage.

"We were just due for a break," Portland said. "But you have to be in somebody's bracket."

Penn State's initial portion of the bracket contains some unfamiliar faces. The Lions have never faced Chattanooga, Florida International or Creighton before.

Portland said that it is now assistant coach Annie Troyan's full-time job to research and obtain tapes of Penn State's future opponents.

Sophomore captain Kelly Mazzante said she was happy to be seeing some new teams instead of the regular bruising Big Ten opponents.

"I know I'm excited that we're not playing the same old teams," Mazzante said. "I think that's going to be a big difference with everyone on the team. I think they are going to be excited to watch clip tapes of somebody different."

For the Lions, their selection was the culmination of a hard-fought season of ups and downs. After their disappointing loss in the Big Ten tournament last week, yesterday's news brought smiles to their faces.

"We all jumped, everybody was excited," senior captain Rashana Barnes said. "We were all just really happy and I looked over and saw Rene's face and I could tell she was really happy. It was just a nice moment."