Last year, the Howard women’s basketball team finished first in the Mid-East Athletic Conference but were knocked out in the second round of their conference tournament, erasing their hopes of an NCAA berth. Sound familiar?

The Colonials shared the Bison’s fate in their own conference last season, finishing first in the Atlantic 10 only to get knocked out in the second round of the conference tournament. But GW head coach Joe McKeown said he will not be thinking about last year when his team opens the season against the Bison Friday at the Smith Center.

“We don’t dwell,” he said. “When you’re opening your season, you don’t really want to think about last year. We want to start fresh and start a whole new season.”

The one thing the Colonials are hanging onto from last year is their line-up. The Colonials head into their season opener with all five starters returning, but McKeown still does not expect the team to be at full strength for Friday’s opener.

“I expect us to make mistakes,” he said. “We have a lot returning, so we should be pretty far along, but it’s way too early for us to be perfect.”

GW’s offense will not be at full speed Friday, which is dangerous because the Bison are a solid defensive team. Last season they held opponents to 71 points per game, compared to the 78 on average they scored. With shooters Cathy Joens and Liz Dancause only nearing full strength after recovering from injuries, McKeown admits he is “a little worried about the offense.”

Joens, the team’s leading scorer last season, has missed practice time while nursing an ankle injury sustained in preseason. The red shirt senior did not play in the team’s only exhibition game but should be near full strength for Friday, McKeown said. Dancause has been battling stress fractures and has only been practicing for two weeks, while red-shirt sophomore Tylon Harris has also missed valuable practice time.

McKeown does not anticipate a problem with his team’s defense, however. The Bison lost their star player, second-round WNBA pick and leading scorer Andrea Gardner, to graduation. Six-foot senior Courtney Kirk and senior guard Asia Petty are expected to step up and fill the void, as they both averaged more than 12 points per game last season. But they will have their work cut out for them with Ugo Oha dominating the paint for the Colonials.

In addition to Joens and Oha, senior forward Erica Lawrence, sophomore forward Anna Montanana and senior guard Lindsey Davidson will be the likely starters.