DENVER – What's past is prologue.
 
Everything MSU Denver's women's basketball team has been pointing to this season is preparing for this weekend, the opening weekend of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference portion of the schedule.
 
The Roadrunners play host to Regis at 4:30 p.m. Friday and to Colorado Christian at 5 p.m. Saturday. Both games are at the Auraria Event Center.
 
 "We're all starting 0-0," Metropolitan State University of Denver coach Tanya Haave said. "We know what non-conference was or wasn't, and now everybody has a clean slate. We've all got the hope and we're trying to get off to a good start. It's fun. The intensity ratchets up a little bit."
 
MSU Denver was only 1-5 during non-conference play, but no one is fretting about it. The Roadrunners played three teams that are currently ranked, and their six opponents combined to start the season 30-9.
 
"It's go-time now," senior forward Bree Wellington said. "It's conference. All the other games just felt like preparation and maybe they didn't mean quite as much. We were getting ready for this weekend."
 
Said sophomore point guard Jaiden Galloway: "In conference, everything matters. You start 0-0. All the other teams we've played have kind of prepared us for this. All the games matter, but those are more for practice and these are more serious."
 
Haave relishes the chance to test her team against top competition. The Roadrunners followed a similar path last season when they were 1-5 in non-conference play but went 15-7 in the RMAC to finish in third place. The Roadrunners are picked to finish fourth this year.
 
MSU Denver lost its first five games this season before knocking off Great Northwest Athletic Conference favorite Central Washington 69-67 last Saturday.
 
"The win couldn't have come at a better time for us, just for the players to see that our hard work is paying off, and to have some results," Haave said. "You hope that will continue to transfer into conference games."
 
The Roadrunners have played the top-ranked defending national champions (Lubbock Christian), 10^th-ranked Texas A&M-Commerce and No. 22 Minnesota State-Moorhead, all of them on the road or at a neutral site. Heck, they even played top-ranked defending national NAIA Division II champion Concordia (Neb.) in an exhibition game.
 
"It really helped our toughness," Galloway said.
 
Said Wellington: "We are human and we do feel those emotions and get sad seeing the scores and not being successful. But coach talks about the little things that make us successful and talks about the big picture. So that was our motivation to stay positive."
 
MSU Denver has emerged as a well-balanced team, with six players averaging between 8.5 and 6.5 points per game and another at 5.2.
 
"We love that balance," Haave said. "If that continues, that would be great, because we'll have seven players who are capable of scoring close to double-digits. It becomes harder to focus on any one player, and it could be anyone's night to have a big game."
 
That kind of versatility can be problematic for opponents, and it can be particularly critical in league play when teams are so much more familiar with one another.
 
"Everybody knows everybody, so it's basically a matter of who can execute and who wants it more," Galloway said. "Because we all know what each other is going to do."
 
Both MSU Denver and Regis (2-4) know that last season ended for the Roadrunners on the same Auraria Event Center floor where the teams square off Friday. Sixth-seeded Regis came in an upset the Roadrunners 63-56 in the first round of the RMAC Tournament.
 
"They knocked us out last year, so we're all ready," Wellington said. "It seems like it was last weekend. I can still feel the sensations and emotions from that game."