The basketball season enters a new phase tonight, and the Bates women’s team has a number of reasons to be excited.

The unbeaten Bobcats play at Bowdoin today in a 6 p.m. showdown between the rivals.

“We’re really looking forward to it,” said Bates coach Jim Murphy. “It’s a big game on a number of different levels.”

The most significant aspect of the matchup is that both squads enter their NESCAC schedule. The conference matchups are limited to just 10 games, making each one valuable.

“It’s another season now because of the NESCAC competition,” said Murphy. “The conference is extremely strong. This if the first step, and we don’t want to start out 0-1.”

Also part of this matchup is the fact that Bowdoin (10-1) is ranked second in the D3hoops.com Women’s Basketball Poll and fourth in the USA Today/ESPN Division III Top 25. Bates (12-0) is ranked ninth and seventh respectively.

Bowdoin, coming off its first loss of the season against Emmanuel, is also boasting a win streak of 47 games at home.

“I’d be lying if I said we weren’t excited and that we wouldn’t love to do it, but you don’t win that many games without being a great team,” said Murphy. “We understand it’s a great opportunity for us.”

Bowdoin, which has beaten the Bobcats in the NESCAC title game the last two years, has a very balanced offense. Though Eileen Flaherty leads the team with 13.5 points, Alison Smith, Erika Nickerson, Justine Pouravelis, Marisa Berne and Vanessa Russell are all chipping seven or eight points per outing.

The Polar Bears have been averaging nearly 70 points while allowing just 46.5.

“I think tempo is crucial,” said Murphy. “We try to play as fast as possible. Bowdoin does a good job of slowing us down.”

Murphy says he figures he can count on one hand the number of times his Bobcats have let the shot clock get below 10 seconds.

“I think we’ll see that as many times, at least,” said Murphy. “Bowdoin does a great job on defense and slowing down what you’re trying to do.”

Olivia Zurek leads the Bobcats with around 15 points per game while Meg Coffin has also been in double digits. Bates is also getting consistent points from Sarah Barton, Betsy Hochadel, Heather Taylor and Kyla Decato.

Bates fast-pace attack has been netting them around 80 points per game.

“The kids do understand that we’re going to have to play better than we’ve played so far this year,” said Murphy. “We’re definitely going to have to raise our level of play.”