While sitting in the newsroom and cruising the Internet, I searched for an updated box score or a live game update of Sunday’s women’s basketball game of Eastern and Creighton. To my avail, there were few resources available.

When one goes searching for a live score for a women’s basketball game, there are few places where it might be available.

I first tried Yahoo! Sports and checked the scoreboard. Live updates of ranked teams were plenty as well as recaps of ranked teams games, but overall the quality was horrendous. If a student from Eastern wanted to follow their school, it would be extremely difficult.

The Panthers-Bluejays box score was frustrating. There was no box score option available. It only gave the score. I was excited to learn the Panthers led 14-2 only to find out at least 15 minutes later, their lead was trimmed 14-10.

NCAAsports.com showed Eastern led 35-24 with 3 minutes and 20 seconds left in the first half. Yahoo Sports said the Panthers lead 43-27 at the break at 6:11 p.m. Real consistent, right?

“It used to be just big games covered, other than a box score,” said Eastern head coach Brady Sallee about the print media.

The Missouri tournament had live updates for the previous game between Missouri and Alabama A&M. The site did not have a live stat tracker for the previous ESPN, the national media leader in coverage of sports did not have a box score, nor did it update regularly on the score listed until 6:29 p.m.

Fans were able to listen to the women’s basketball on WEIU 88.9 FM.

The radio station deserves credit covering the majority of Eastern women’s basketball games. Ben Turner deserves credit for traveling with the team and announcing all home and away games.

The coverage became more consistent in the second half. NCAA Sports, Yahoo! Sports and ESPN.com reported Eastern leading 60-43 with 11:05 remaining.

“Our challenge has to be where we have to get our game to a point where we’re what people want to read about it,” Sallee said.

Apparently the Eastern women’s basketball game was not important enough for the ESPN.com to have consistent coverage and updated scoreboard.

One could follow a men’s basketball game and not have the same coverage. The coverage of men’s and women’s sports in general vary with more media and hype focusing on the male athletic contests.

Why is that?

“I think in everybody’s Utopia you would have equal coverage and balanced (of men’s and women’s basketball),” Sallee said. “It’s made the great players that are maybe down in the South that people in the Midwest know who they are now because of TV.”

At Eastern, there are plenty of resources for the Panthers including Sports Information, The Daily Eastern News, WEIU-TV and WEIU FM 88.9.

Sallee had been an assistant coach at high profile conference teams at Eastern Carolina (Conference USA) and Kent State (Mid-American Conference).

“We did not have that kind of coverage,” Sallee said, when he was an assistant coach.

They made a step in the right direction when the Eastern women’s basketball team will take stage on ESPNU against Tennessee-Martin on Feb. 11 at Lantz Arena.

In contrast, though, the men’s team has two games televised by ESPN affiliates. They play Samford on ESPN2 Feb. 3 at Lantz Arena. The men also play on ESPNU against Southeast Missouri on Feb. 13 at Lantz Arena.

The media coverage of women’s basketball should improve at the national level.

A men’s basketball game between Vermont (4-4) and Delaware (0-6) was constantly updated, much more consistently than any women’s game.

One reason is in the interest is in the game.

According to a USA Today Poll published on Monday, at least 68 percent have at least some interest in college women’s basketball. But in contrast, there is 94 percent interest in men’s basketball.

It appears there is not much interest in the women’s college basketball game. Who wouldn’t want to watch sophomore center Rachel Galligan post twenty points a game or senior guard Meggie Eck making 75 3-pointers in her career?

I would.