EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Playing with no fear, the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville stood tall against its Atlantic Coast Conference opponents only to drop an 83-72 contest to the University of Miami at the Vadalabene Center.

SIUE Coach Amanda Levens emphasized to her players before the game to play the player and not the uniform.

"I'm proud of the effort tonight. We fought until the end," said Levens.

Miami shot an impressive 61.8 percent from the field and didn't pull away from the Cougars until the final minutes of the contest. SIUE was down by two at halftime and cut the lead to one point in the second half.

The Hurricanes used their noticeable size advantage to pound the ball inside, scoring 50 of its 83 points in the paint.

Ashley Sours, 6-foot-5-inch center, came off the bench for Miami and scored a team-high 16 points and added four blocks.

Miami, which also picked up 15 from points from Shenise Johnson, finished with 10 blocks overall.

The Cougars, now 5-19, could leave the court feeling positive against the 12-10 Canes.

Jenny Wuest led SIUE with a game-high 19 points and was one of four Cougars scoring in double figures.

Kate Affourtit pumped in 14 points, including three three-pointers. Madison Meade matched Affourtit in three-pointers and finished with 11 points. Ashley Bey added 12 points and six assists.

"Our girls battled tonight," said Levens.

The Cougars played better ball control than the Hurricanes, forcing 23 turnovers by Miami. SIUE committed 19.

The Cougars are now idle until Feb. 19 when they travels to North Dakota for a 6 p.m. game in Grand Forks, N.D.