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Amanda Levens begins her fourth season as SIUE's head women'sbasketball coach. Levens and her Cougars have a full slate of OhioValley Conference games to contend with this season after postingan 11-19 record a season ago. SIUE was 6-6 against OVC teams lastseason which would have placed the Cougars firmly in the league's2011 postseason tournament. Freshman Jazmin Hill led the team inscoring with 12.9 points per game and set a rookie record forthree-pointers with 74. Levens guided the Cougars to an 8-21 markin 2009-2010. The Cougars opened the season by defeating MoreheadState, the OVC's preseason favorite. Her team went on to defeatfour postseason teams during the course of the season. The 2009-10season also saw the emergence of Raven Berry as a standout center.The first team All-Independent player became the first freshman inschool history to lead the Cougars in scoring and rebounding at12.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Sophomore Melia Duncan alsobecame an outside threat with 11.3 points per game while recordinga team-leading 52 three-pointers. SIUE finished with a 5-24 recordin its historic first season at the Division I level. Levens'Cougars notched the program's first victory over a true Division Iteam in January, defeating Ohio Valley Conference foe EasternKentucky 54-44 at the Vadalabene Center. Levens also coachedseniors Jenny Wuest, Jessie Stapleton, and junior Ashley Bey tostandout seasons. Wuest led the 2008-09 team in scoring with anaverage of 12.2 points a game, despite not having played collegebasketball for two seasons. Wuest was honored with an HonorableMention selection to the All-Independent team. Stapleton led theteam in rebounds averaging 7.8 a game, despite being outsized bymost of her opponents. Bey broke the school record in steals with112. Levens was named the fourth women's head basketball coach inschool history prior to the 2008-09 season. She was charged withdeveloping a women's basketball program that reflected SIUE'scommitment to excellence, academic integrity, service to thecommunity and commitment to all students, all while tackling thechallenges involved in transitioning to Division I play. At 31,Levens was one of the youngest head coaches at the NCAA Division Ilevel when the Cougars began play as a Division I program in 2008.Only two other coaches at the NCAA Division I level were younger.Before coming to SIUE, Levens was an assistant coach at theUniversity of Nevada-Reno. Regarded as one of the top youngassistant coaches in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) duringher time at Nevada, Levens was part of the Nevada coaching staffjust one year after completing her bachelor of arts degree inhistory at Arizona State University in 2002. Levens completed hermaster's in higher education administration from Nevada-Reno in2007. As a coach, she recruited a WAC Newcomer of the Year, ajunior college All-American and four members of the WACAll-Freshmen team. In five seasons, she helped develop 16 playerswho earned All-WAC Academic Honors. In 2007, Nevada made itsfirst-ever postseason appearance at the Women's NationalInvitational Tournament. Levens was involved in every facet of theNevada basketball staff under Head Coach Kim Gervasoni. Her dutieswere varied including academics, recruiting, scouting, gamepreparation, fundraising, player development, and communityoutreach. As a player, Levens was deemed as "one of the bestplayers in the Arizona State women's basketball history," accordingto the Sun Devils' Web site. She spent two seasons at Arizona Statewhere she was twice named first team All-PAC -10 and led the SunDevils to a spot in the NCAA Tournament. She was an AssociatedPress honorable mention All-American in 2002. Levens held recordsfor most three-pointers in 2001 with 60. In her collegiate careerLevens totaled 1,322 points (an average of 10.6 points per game),310 rebounds, 332 assists, and 99 steals. She spent her first twocollegiate seasons at Old Dominion where she twice helped theMonarchs to two NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen appearances. Levenssigned a free agent contract with the Charlotte Sting of the WNBAin April of 2002. Her ties to the Midwest are very strong. She wasa three-time All-State selection at Belvidere High School innorthern Illinois. In the fall of 2000, she was named to theAll-Century Girls' team by the Rockford Register-Star. Levens hadher No. 11 jersey retired by Belvidere in 2010.
