Simply stated, the 2010-2011 season for the University of the Incarnate Word women's basketball team left something to be desired for the program and the coaching staff. Finishing 9-17 overall and missing the Lone Star Conference Tournament was not how head coach Angela Lawson wanted to debut in the LSC.

That said, what's in the past is in the past and Lawson, her coaches and her team aren't wasting any time glancing in the rearview mirror which, when you look at the team that UIW is brining to the floor in 2011-2012, is a pretty accurate analogy.

“Our biggest problem, as coaches, is going to be knowing when to tell our girls to slow down,” Lawson said.

This year's Cardinal team, for Lawson, is a whole different creature over last year's roster. This year, there are six returning players (one taking the floor for the first time after a medical redshirt their freshman year) and five new members ranging from true freshmen to transfer players.

Chloe Wallace (senior post who led the team with 12.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game), Ifunanya Mora (sophomore guard/forward who averaged 11.3 points and 7.3 boards per game), Katy Cooke (junior guard who had 107 assists and averaged 10.1 points per game), Rose Whitehead (sophomore center with a 7.8 points per game average) and Kaylin Dugie (sophomore guard with 76 assists and a .391 shooting percentage from behind the three-point line) are all players who saw significant time on the floor for Lawson in 10-11. Those players are currently in the process of meshing with their new teammates, which has the Cardinal coaches scratching their heads – not because they're worrying, but at what the possibilities are for this unit.

“It (practice) is a bit frustrating right now,” Lawson admitted. “These girls are trying to learn so much right now and we have to make sure we aren't overloading them. But, they're starting to get it and I believe that you're going to start seeing them get more comfortable in their offensive and defensive sets before too long. When that happens, they can stop thinking and start playing.”

UIW has already had some preseason scrimmages and the real-time action showed the coaches very quickly that this team is going to press the action on the offensive side of the ball.

“I'm excited about opening it up,” Lawson explained, “but it's hard to know when to tell them to control that and keep us from ending 50 turnovers per-game. It's hard to find that kind of aggression in players at times, but this group had lots of it. It's on me and the coaches to know when to tell them to slow down.”

The fast-paced, opened-up offense that Lawson is expecting this season comes from the coaches going out and getting a different kind of player than they had last season.

“I definitely think we're more athletics this year. We also have a deeper roster in the sense that there isn't much of a drop-off between the people we start and the people who are going to come in and give our starters a breather. In other seasons, we might take a player out and there would be a significant change in what we could do. This year, from what I'm seeing now, there isn't going to be that much of an issue.”

Lawson's roster now allows she and her coaches to dictate the game to other teams instead of having to react to whatever opposing coaches were throwing at them. It also means that if an opponent tries to use a lineup to counter what the Cardinals are doing, UIW can counter.

“If someone tries to go 'small ball' on us, we can match that. If we face someone who wants to go into the paint with 'bigs' (multiple post and/or centers on the floor at the same time) we can match that too,” Lawson said.

But with so many interchangeable parts on the roster, there is the concern that players will start to resent their role on the team or the minutes they're playing – which is something Lawson is not concerned with, at all, with this group of players.

“This group has such good chemistry,” she explained. “I feel like they all get along and they're all supportive of each other. Even the people on the bench are full of positive energy and you don't see anyone pouting because they aren't in the game.”

Additionally, Lawson subscribes to the idea that competition within the squad is a good thing.

“Competitiveness in practice makes you better,” she said. She also admitted she was not 100 percent sure who her starting roster is going to be before the season starts on Monday.

Joining the returning core of Cardinal players are guards Kiana Orise (a freshman from Corpus Christi) and Ashlyn Green (a junior transfer from Angelina Junior College); forwards Jocelyn Jarmon (a junior transfer from Temple Junior College) and Michelle Hale (a sophomore transfer from Centenary College); and center Lauren Shelton (a senior transfer from Lindenwood University).

Of that new group, Lawson identified Green and Jarmon as two players she expects to immediately have an impact.

“Ashlyn (Green) has caught on to most of our concepts very quickly because she's very coachable, “ Lawson said. “She's long and athletics and the defensive presence she gives us, along with her rebounding, make me expect great things from her.

Jocelyn (Jarmon) plays so hard and is an excellent rebounder. She can be a big perimeter offensive threat for us, as well. She's definitely going to be a strong player.”

From her returning group, Lawson said that Wallace is definitely an on-the-floor leader who leads with her physical gifts.

“I think she can put up the same number of points up for us this year, but do it with less minutes,” Lawson said. “Last year, she had to play a lot of minutes and she knew she had to pace herself a bit in order to still be able to stand by the end of the game. When you're playing almost 30 minutes per game night in and night out, that wears on you.

“This season, we have the depth on our roster to where we can keep her fresh, which means she'll be able to play lights out and not worry about saving something for later. She's going to have another strong season for us.”

The Cardinals start the 2011-12 season with a 4-games-in-8-days stretch that puts UIW on the road for the first two games of the regular season. The Cardinals' season-opener is on Monday, November 14, in Laredo against Texas A&M International University at 7 p.m. Then, on Wednesday, November 16, they will head to Austin for a 7 p.m. matchup against St. Edward's University.

The team's home-opener is Saturday, November 19^th against Texas-Permian Basin at noon and then they'll host St. Mary's University on Tuesday, November 22, at 5:30 p.m. before the Thanksgiving holiday.

That gauntlet of four games against Heartland Conference foes will be an early test to see what this group has to offer, Lawson admits. But she still likes the group of players she'll be dressing out at each one of those first four games – as well as the rest of the 2011-12 season.