Coquese Washington doesn't know what to expect.

With four freshmen on her roster, the third-year head coach is unsure how her young players will react when they step on the court for their first test.

The Lady Lions begin their season at 2 p.m. Sunday when Indiana University of Pennsylvania travels to the Bryce Jordan Center for an exhibition.

"I just want to see how we do with the lights on," Washington said. "How some of the young kids do with the crowd, and people in the stands, and actually playing and it means something, as opposed to practice."

Washington said at her press conference Tuesday that her team didn't spend a large portion of its practices preparing for the IUP Crimson Hawks. Rather than focusing on a specific opponent, Washington said she's still "working with the babies," and trying to bring her freshmen up to the fast-paced speed of the college game.

On Sunday, it will be a pretty similar situation for the team sitting on the other side of the court.

The Crimson Hawks enter the game with four freshmen and two transfers on their roster. IUP coach Jeff Dow said he can relate to the Lions' youthful situation, and because of injuries and illness his young team will only suit up 10 players.

"We're going through the same thing," Dow said. "We're trying to blend in a lot of newcomers it's a little tricky so I can definitely empathize with Coach Washington."

Unlike the Lions who are playing their first and only exhibition of the season, the Crimson Hawks are playing their third exhibition in an eight-day span.

Dow said since Sunday is the last tune-up for his team before the regular season begins, he hopes to continue seeing improvement from his younger player.

Washington is hoping to see similar results.

The Lions want to see how their younger players react to the speed of the game and their play will help determine what type of depth the team will have.

"Sometimes you have people who are really good at practice but can't quite perform to that level in games," Washington said. "We have to start to see what our game depth is going to look like and what kind of game slippage we have from individuals and those type of things."

While Dow said his squad is slowly coming along, he does realize that playing against a Big Ten opponent will be a challenge for his young team.

"We're going to be excited," Dow said. "It's a completely different situation for us, but it's going to be a lot of fun. We know what we're up against and hopefully we'll see a competitive effort on our part."