The 19-year-old woman held her head high and even had a timid smile when she walked back into the Eagle, Colorado courtroom after a morning break.

The defense was hoping to find clues to attack the woman's credibility by delving into her sexual history to see if they could show that injuries to her vaginal area could have been caused by someone other than the 25-year-old Los Angeles Laker.

It was her first courtroom encounter with Bryant, and the first time they had faced one another since the incident last year.

The strawberry blond was accompanied to the courthouse by her parents. She was dressed conservatively in camel-color slacks, a black jacket and a black top, and wore her hair at shoulder length.

The young woman looked expressionless when she left for the day. "That's a long time for one side to do the questioning," said Craig Silverman, a former chief deputy prosecutor in Denver.

Silverman, who has been observing the proceedings, said sexual assault victims in the future may be afraid to press charges if they believe personal details about their life will be paraded before the public.

Bryant, who is married and the father of a 14-month-old girl, has denied he attacked the woman on June 30 at a Colorado resort where she worked. He said the sex was consensual and his only mistake was committing adultery, which he regrets.

Six other witnesses, friends and acquaintances of the accuser including a bellhop from the hotel where she worked, testified in the afternoon, also behind closed doors.

The media are only showing pictures of her taken from the back and the mainstream press has not disclosed her name, although many details of the young woman's life have been plastered on the Internet and in supermarket tabloids.

NO PROTECTION FROM SEXUAL QUESTIONING

Prosecutors had hoped to shield her from having to answer questions about her sexual past, but Colorado's highest court earlier this month declined to intervene in the case.

While Colorado's rape shield law protects people who report sexual crimes from having their sexual history examined during a trial, there are exceptions for compelling reasons, the defense has said.

The purpose of a pretrial hearing is to set the borders of what can be introduced to a jury at trial. The defense hopes it can convince Judge Terry Ruckriegle that information about her sexual life -- going back one year before the incident with Bryant -- is relevant for trial. If the judge rules against the defense then information that emerged during the closed door hearing will remain confidential.

The defense has been relentless in trying to attack the woman's account of what happened that night at the resort and also in attacking her credibility and stability in general.

They have said in court filings that she attempted suicide twice to gain the attention of an ex-boyfriend and that her accusation against Bryant follows the same pattern.

During the hearing, defense attorneys Hal Haddon and Pamela Mackey have had an opportunity to size up the young woman, who was a drama major in college, to see how she stands up to tough questioning.

The defense wants to counter an assertion by prosecutors that the woman suffered trauma after the rape by showing she had sexual relations in the hours just after she said Bryant raped her.

The hearing will resume on Thursday, continuing with the rape shield issues, although the young woman does not have to return, officials said. Bryant was expected to try to make it back to Los Angeles on Wednesday night for the Lakers' game against their big NBA rival the Sacramento Kings. He is due back in court on Thursday.

Thursday's hearing will also take up a defense motion to have statements Bryant made to police the day after the incident thrown out.

Police taped the conversation and defense attorneys argue that their client was not informed of his right to remain silent. Police have said they conducted the interview properly and that they told Bryant he was free to leave.