Binghamton University women’s basketball star senior guard Andrea Holmes is on the road to recovery after suffering a season-ending ACL tear in her left knee late last season against Boston University.

With about a month remaining before the Bearcats open non-conference play, Holmes told reporters she feels about 70 percent following an offseason of surgery and rehab.

Last season, Holmes led the team in scoring, assists and steals, and became just the 13th player in program history to reach 1,000 points.

“It’s still a great amount of pain that I feel, like every other day maybe,” Holmes said. “It just has a mind of its own. When it’s good, it’s good; when it’s bad, I really do feel bad.”

Despite the pain, Holmes says she’s been doing a lot of the “basic things” like running, jumping and shooting around to get herself back into “the flow of basketball.”

She is currently focusing on regaining a sense of comfort in her lateral movements and cuts.

While Holmes and Binghamton head coach Nicole Scholl agree that Holmes is progressing nicely in her recovery process, no timetable has been set as of yet for her return.

“It’s all day-by-day,” Scholl said. “It just depends on how fast the recovery is going and what we see in practice. For me, I think my comfort level, once I see her get knocked to the ground and she gets back up and she’s fine and got a smile on her face, I think that’s when everybody’s gonna be alright.”

According to Holmes, Oct. 5 marks the six-month clearance date set by her doctor, though she’ll also have to wait for clearance from the trainer.

Scholl said that while nothing has been ruled out in terms of preseason and non-conference games, it is likely that Holmes’ play time may be limited early in the year.

“Non-conference wise is going to be about getting her ready for conference, and whether that’s starting off two minutes at a stretch or whether that’s building up to 20, 25, 30 minutes depending … there that’s how we’re gonna go,” Scholl said.

Both Holmes and Scholl expressed that Holmes’ potential absence from the court early in the season could possibly benefit the team because it would give some of the less experienced players an opportunity for more playing time.

“I think they did an amazing job last year without me in the tournament,” Holmes said.

With their star player on the bench, last year’s Bearcats advanced to the America East semifinals after beating University of New Hampshire the previous round.

“A lot of the veterans stepped up at that time, and so far during the preseason that’s been happening also,” she said. “I think it is a great opportunity for the younger people to come in and just figure out their roles and for me to just sit back and watch them and learn myself also.”

The hardest part of the whole process, according to Holmes, has been limiting how hard she pushes herself, unfamiliar territory for last year’s America East All-Conference first-team nominee.

But sidelined for a majority of the offseason, her role as leader on the court taken away, Holmes emerged as one of the team’s strongest vocal leaders over the summer, Scholl said.

“It just gave her an opportunity to really watch,” Scholl said. “Really watch some of the preseason things, watch the new kids that we have in here, and once she does get back on the floor, her level of play and what she’s gonna be able to do for our team is gonna be that much better.”

Holmes’ rehabbing will continue for the remainder of the preseason while she and the team get ready to kick off play with a home exhibition game against Mansfield University on Nov. 8.