Bishop Guilfoyle girls basketball probably isn't a subject that sparks a lot of discussion in Saxton, but Alex Stoudnour at least has a passing familiarity with the Lady Marauders and their tradition.

'I remember a few years back when they won the state championship,' Stoudnour said. 'I watched it on TV.'

One of the players Stoudnour watched lead BG over North Catholic that day was Alli Williams. Today, she'll probably be the one guarding Williams when the Lady Marauders and Stoudnour's Tussey Mountain High School Lady Titans face off in the PIAA Class A quarterfinals.

It's the kind of matchup makes March Madness - even in high school girls basketball - special.

Among Class A squads, Bishop Guilfoyle is UCLA, Duke, Georgetown, Jerry Tarkanian's UNLV squads, Indiana or UConn. The Lady Marauders are the state power, in the tournament for the 31st time in 32 years with nine finals appearances and four championships to show for it.

Tussey is George Mason, Princeton, Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount or Valparaiso, the Cinderella upstart that catches everyone by surprise and catches everyone's imagination. The Lady Titans hadn't been in the PIAA playoffs since 2004, and their win over Quigley Catholic a week ago was the program's first ever in the interdistrict playoffs.

Putting it in further perspective: Guilfoyle has advanced to this round 21 times. By contrast, Tussey Mountain's district, District 5, has only won one PIAA girls title.

However, that has perhaps just amplified reasons for the Lady Titans to be very relaxed when facing this challenge.

'The girls are very confident, extremely comfortable,' said Tussey's third-year coach, Todd Gates.

That tranquility doesn't extend to the coaching box, though.

'The girls are saying that. Not me,' Gates said with a chuckle. 'We feel there's no pressure on us, though. All the pressure is on Bishop Guilfoyle.'

That's because, history aside, the Lady Marauders were expected to be here. From the team last year that advanced to the state's elite eight and lost to the eventual champion in overtime, BG returned two starters, including Williams, an all-state pick and one of the program's all-time top scorers.

Mark Moschella's team has been ranked No. 1 in the state in Class A for most of the year, going 27-1 with 19-point wins over the likes of Delone Catholic, Bishop McCort and Altoona and a 22-point victory over defending PIAA finalist Northern Cambria - then ranked second in the state - in the District 6 championship game.

If you are a Lady Marauder, the expectations are always high. You'd imagine a fair amount of pressure arises from that.

'Yeah, a little bit,' Guilfoyle senior forward Rachel Rea said. 'I usually don't look at it as pressure, though. We just try to play. Once we got past the first round, more of the pressure comes from just not wanting to lose, and, as seniors, play our last game.'

Moschella, who has won 390 games in 17 years on the BG bench, is aware of the demands that come from putting on a Lady Marauder uniform because of the tradition.

'They could very easily let that be extra pressure, but I don't get that feeling,' Moschella said. 'People say about having a target on your back. I think we always have a target on our backs, in a way.'

After steamrolling its way through the regular season and district playoffs, BG has gotten off to slow starts in each of its interdistrict games before going on to beat Eisenhower by 14 and Elk County Catholic by 13. Elk County was 27-1 and had displaced Northern Cambria as the second-ranked team in the state prior to facing Guilfoyle.

'I think we've done well. I think we can definitely do better,' Rea said.

As for today's opponent? Although Tussey is only about 40 minutes from Altoona, the Lady Titans have Rea and her teammates in the dark.

'I don't know anything about them,' Rea said. 'We were just talking about that. We think we played them over the summer at the Building II, but I wasn't sure if that was them. They are from pretty far away.'

As it turns out, Stoudnour confirmed that it was the Lady Titans the Lady Marauders faced in summer league. Guilfoyle won that game, but Tussey has come a long way since.

After beating high-scoring Quigley of the WPIAL for its first-ever interdistrict win, the Lady Titans knocked off Ferndale, 75-65, in the second round. It was the second time in three games Tussey had gone overtime for the W.

'I'm determined not to lose,' said Stoudnour. 'I told the girls in a timeout that nothing was going to stand in our way.'

Coincidentally, Ferndale was also the team that BG beat in the District 6 semifinals, 47-41. Lady Yellowjacket coach Gene Slebodnick thought today's contest had the potential to be a very entertaining game, although he gave the edge to Guilfoyle.

'Alli Williams and Rachel Rea are so strong underneath,' Slebodnick said. 'Tussey Mountain is going to have to disguise its defenses and find a way to contain Williams and Rea. I would stay out of man-to-man - I'd probably play triangle-and-two. But they're very similar teams.'

Guilfoyle is looking at a potential state semifinal matchup with North Catholic, the team the Lady Marauders beat in the 2007 PIAA final that Stoudnour watched. Moschella, though, swears he isn't counting any chickens before they are hatched.

'The five kids starting for Tussey are the same five that they had last year. Experience is awfully important at this time of year,' Moschella said. 'We're treating them the same way we'd treat North Catholic or Pottsville Nativity.'

The Lady Titans are enjoying their first taste of interdistrict success and are hoping to keep midnight from striking at least for another few days.

'I'm getting more and more nervous every game. It's been unreal,' Stoudnour said. "The whole community is behind us. It really gets us psyched. We had a goal before the season to be the first ones to win a state playoff game. It's exhilarating.

'It's always been like a dream, but we really didn't know what it was like to get this far.'