PENNSYLVANIA, Pa – Immediately after DePaul women’s basketball earned a tough 56-43 victory over Navy in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the clock began ticking. Over the next 51 hours, the coaching staff and players will be tasked with analyzing and breaking down their next opponent, Penn State, before the second-round matchup begins Monday at 6 p.m. central.

That’s 51 hours to decipher the strengths and weaknesses of a Nittany Lions team that finished second in the Big 10 regular season and conference tournament, scored 77 points a game, is 14-3 at home this season and 9-0 all time at the Bryce Jordan Center in the NCAA tournament.

Start counting down.

“We’re gonna prepare for it like we’ve prepared for every game this season,” said sophomore guard Anna Martin. “Film has always been really important for us, so we’re gonna watch that a few times and also practice.”

Getting ready for a regular season game against a Big East opponent-a team the upper classmen have all played in previous years-is a different beast than diagnosing this Penn State team, who the team last played in 1992, when its current roster was all toddler-age.

“It’s totally different,” said DePaul Head Coach Doug Bruno about preparing for an unfamiliar team versus a conference team. “Leagues are like coaching against your brothers and sisters. You’re doing it year in and year out, and there’s tweaks and there’s adjustments, but by and large, it’s apples and oranges. Even in the preseason non-conference schedule versus the conference schedule. It’s just so different.It’s not like it’s easier in the Big East, because the Big East teams are very difficult. But you know each other.”

Behind the scenes, Bruno works with his staff of assistant coaches-Nicci Hays-Fort, Candis Blankson and Bart Brooks-to start lining pieces up for the long run, like taking out your opponent’s pawn in a game of chess while simultaneously getting in position to take the rook.

“I’ve already watched a ton of tape myself, because we were guessing it was gonna be Penn State, so I’d already watched Penn State before we even had the announcement,” Bruno said. “So I’m pretty well prepared before we even get to this point. Bart Brooks has got the [Penn State] scout, so he worked that all week, while Nicci had navy.Candace had Dayton. So we were prepared, and the split second the game was over, we were able to get out of here yesterday, went right to my hotel room and we hunkered down there last night form basically 5 p.m. until midnight, and just worked that, watched Penn State tape.”

For the players, their advance preparation for Penn State began before they even knew it. Practices held after last Monday’s seeding announcement were structured by the coaches with both the present and future in mind.

“What we’ve been doing is getting ready for this team all last week without ever mentioning this team, Penn State, to our players,” Bruno said before Sunday’s practice. “Many of the things we were doing Tuesday and Wednesday in practice were as much for Penn State as they were for Navy. But you don’t tell the players that, because you’ve got to keep the players focused on Navy.”

Now the team is solely focused on Penn State and the challenges they present tomorrow night. And the players are starting to get a feel for what awaits them.

“They’re a lot like some of the Big East teams we played, and they’re a lot like us to,” said Sam Quigley. “They like to run a lot, they’ve got a good inside game and they’re good shooters, so it kind of reminds us a lot of us.”

Those shooters include freshman guard Maggie Lucas, who averaged 16.0 points per game in the regular season coming off the bench on 43 percent shooting. Then there is Alex Bentley, who averaged 14.2 points per game in the regular season and dropped 25 on Dayton in their first-round matchup yesterday. The burden of stopping them will fall on Quigely, Martin and backup guards China Threatt and Deirdre Naughton.

“We played teams in the Big East who have great scoring guards, so we kind of have a little experience with it,” Quigley said. “Just making sure that we contain their guards is gonna be pretty important.”

The Blue Demons played a tough defensive game against Navy in the first round, holding them to no field goals in the final 10:27. That type of performance will be a key component again if DePaul is going to win-or vice versa.

“We both love to score. I don’t think that’s any secret, they average 78 and we average 74,” Bruno said. “We both love to push the ball, we both love to push tempo, we both love to shoot 3s.We play very similar styles of basketball. I really do think who is going to be able to make stops and defend and rebound, I still think it’s going to come back down to that.”

Now all they have to do is figure out how to do it against the high-flying Nittany Lions. And quick. The clock is ticking.