In what promises to be a great atmosphere at Verizon Center tonight, the Mystics host the New York Liberty in the home opener of the 2015 WNBA season.

An intriguing matchup of Eastern Conference foes, both teams look to improve upon last year’s results and have high hopes for this season.

While the Mystics (16-18, 3^rd place in Eastern Conference in 2014) made the playoffs and finished ahead of the Liberty (15-19, 5^th place in Eastern Conference in 2014) in last season’s standings, the Liberty won the evenly contested head-to-head season-series 3-2. But, both teams have made a flurry of moves this offseason to improve their rosters in hope of that elusive first WNBA Championship title.

The Mystics and Liberty both began their seasons with wins in their openers last night, as the Mystics went on the road to beat the Sun, 73-68, while the Liberty took care of the Dream, 82-73, in New York. Stefanie Dolson led the Mystics with a career-high 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Ivory Latta poured in 15 points and dished out five assists. Tina Charles led the Liberty with 17 points and 12 boards, while the veteran Swin Cash added 15 points off the Liberty bench.

The Liberty, guided by 3^rd-year head coach Bill Laimbeer, boast a multitude of fresh faces, led by no bigger than new team president and partial owner Isiah Thomas, a 12-time NBA All-Star and 2-time champion in his own right. Behind him, on the court, the team made a blockbuster trade in the offseason, acquiring star guard Epiphany Prince (15.0 ppg, 3.8 apg in 2014) from the Chicago Sky in exchange for fellow star guard Cappie Pondexter (13.2 ppg, 3.9 apg). The Mystics will catch a break as Prince won’t join the Liberty until the end of June as she fulfils her obligations overseas.

In addition to Prince, the Liberty brought on board veteran guard Tanisha Wright (8.0 ppg, 3.6 apg), who left Seattle after 10 seasons, as well as promising rookies, imposing center Kiah Stokes (UConn, No. 11 overall pick) and highly touted guard Brittany Boyd (Cal, No. 9 overall pick). Both Wright and Boyd scored 14 points apiece last night in their debut with the Liberty. And of course, above all else, the Liberty are still led by the matchup nightmare, 3x WNBA All-Star and 2012 MVP, forward/center Tina Charles (17.4 ppg, 9.4 rpg).

Although the Mystics are hobbling into the regular season with guard Bria Hartley suffering from a foot injury and center Kia Vaughn out with a hip injury, the new-look group looks to ride their momentum from a successful preseason (2-1 record), where they led the entire league in points per game (80.7 ppg), and a 73-68 road win in Connecticut last night.

The Liberty, on the other hand, are looking to recover from a difficult preseason, where they went 0-3 and shot an underwhelming 41% from the field. A matchup to pay attention to tonight is how the Mystics front court is able to handle the powerful Charles. With the Mystics’ Vaughn on the shelf, they will turn to 2^nd year center Stefanie Dolson, who had a very successful rookie season last year, as well 3^rd year Belgian center Emma Meesseman, who teammates consider a blossoming superstar, in an attempt to limit Charles’ production down low.

No matter the outcome, the game is sure to make for exciting basketball. These two teams played each other extremely evenly last season, with the Mystics averaging 68.0 ppg and shooting 42% from the field in their five matchups, while the Liberty countered with a slightly higher 69.6 ppg but a lower 41% shooting percentage during those same games. Expect much of the same competitiveness this year, as these two much improved squads look to remain unbeaten in what is sure to be a dogfight ‘till the end.