ESPN Women's Basketball

ROSEMONT, Ill. -- DePaul and Liberty -- which meet for a second straight season in the NCAA Tournament in Saturday night's San Antonio Regional (8 p.m. ET, ESPN2) -- should be familiar to one another. The Flames knocked DePaul out of the Big Dance in the second round a year ago and once again are a No. 13 seed.

DePaul (25-6) won't be playing on its home floor but should have a hometown advantage with All-State Arena just 15 miles from its campus.

Khara Smith, DePaul's leading scorer (17.7) and rebounder (10.9), goes against a Liberty (25-5) team that was one of the country's top rebounding teams with nearly 12 more a game than its opponents.

Karolina Piotrkiewicz at 6-foot-3 is strong on the inside, but the Flames lost leading scorer and rebounder Megan Frazee to a knee injury in January. And last year they had 6-8 Katie Feenstra, who had 29 points against DePaul in the 88-79 before becoming a first-round pick in the WNBA.

"Liberty earned our respect last year on a bus ride home,'' DePaul coach Doug Bruno said. "That respect can't be lost because they graduated a few players.''

Tulsa (25-5) and North Carolina State (19-11) square off in the late game at 10 p.m. ET (ESPN2).

North Carolina State is making its third straight NCAA appearance while Tulsa is in for the first time. Tulsa is led by Jillian Robbins, the Conference USA's Player of the Year.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press