Issue date: 2/9/10 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Derrick Hawkins SIUE women's basketball coach Amanda Levens paces the sideline during the Cougars' game Thursday at the Vadalabene Center against Eastern Illinois University.

SIUE suffered a pair of losses this past week, falling short to Eastern Illinois University, the top-ranked school in the Ohio Valley Conference, 74-63 Wednesday and 85-60 to Miami on Sunday.

The Cougars (6-19) were led by freshman forward Michael Herrod in both games, scoring a total of 40 points and 19 rebounds combined in the two games. Herrod has been a consistent starter for Head Coach Amanda Levens since the beginning of January.

"She has been extremely coachable and has bought in to what it takes to be a better player," Levens said. "Early on, it hurt her being over-aggressive. She's really calmed out in that regard. She's got a great touch on the ball."

Herrod scored 20 points in both games, a career-high for the Alton native. She said helping her team notch four victories in the last month has coincided with her improvement this season as well.

"Helping my team win, helping my team compete feels good," Herrod said. "With the help of my teammates, I feel like I've developed a lot."

Eastern Illinois benefited from their 20-29 shooting from the free throw line compared to SIUE's 5-9.

"We had some poor judgment fouls, and we bailed them out a few times. [Those were] things I thought we had been better at lately, and we didn't do a good job tonight," Levens said. "I don't think the officiating was a huge factor, we just didn't do enough to win."

Eastern Illinois' victory against SIUE gave the Panthers 10 straight wins, and Miami improved to 16-7 on the season.

Miami used their size against SIUE as they outscored the Cougars 44-14 in the paint. They also grabbed 13 more boards than the Cougars.

Herrod has been relied upon by the Cougars recently as freshman forward Raven Berry fouled out of both games and after junior Whitney Champlin suffered a concussion in practice, forcing her to miss the game against Eastern. Champlin played seven minutes against Miami.

Freshman guard Courtney Kenner provided assistance in both games, draining 12 Wednesday and eight more Sunday. Senior guard Ashley Bey recorded her fourth straight game with at least five steals and now has 86 on the season.

Bey set a quick tempo on offense against Eastern, which Levens said was conducive to Bey's skill set.

"Ashley's so fast, trying to get them before they're set in their defense. They are so physical defensively," Levens said.

SIUE has four games left on the regular season schedule, starting with Oakland City University at 2 p.m Saturday in the Vadalabene Center.

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