Kayla Heal has been a major contributor for the Panthers so far this season, as she leads the team in trys and points scored.

Heal has been a major source of energy for the Panthers as she seems to be a part of every big scoring play. Although Heal does the majority of the scoring for the Panthers, she is not one to take the credit.

“I just play. I don’t really play for me,” said Heal. “I didn’t even know I had a record number of trys last weekend; I play based off of what my teammates do and what they present in front of me.”

Heal said for her, it’s a matter of being in the right places at the right times.

“The wing doesn’t do much, everything happens in the right places at the right time and the wing is just the last person and they go and get the job done,” she said. “All those girls are the ones doing all the hard work, I just finish it.”

Heal had a big weekend in what could be seen as a season defining win down the road. Heal shouldered the offensive load and was single handedly responsible for getting the Panthers out of their scoring funk. Heal had a career day as she ran all over the Illini. Heal racked up three 20-yard runs in the route of the Illini, and she recorded the third most trys in a single game in program history.

“I did a lot of running and after they noticed I was getting around them they started lining up bigger girls on me,” Heal said.

“We have been real focused on improving and we were really focused against the Illini,” Heal said. “Everyone was doing good and the last two weeks of practice pulled through for this weekend.”

Heal also dished out two assists to go a long with the six trys. Heal led all players with 30 points scored on Saturday afternoon.

A long with holding big expectations for herself, Heal also has hefty expectations for the team this season. The Panthers are off to a 4-0 start and are poised for big things this season.

“I think this season has been really good. The first game we had was intense and we were focused and driven,” Heal said. “The second and third game was uncharacteristic for us, but now that we have our focus back I think we can continue to turn in good games this season.”

Kayla Heal and the Panthers will be back in action this weekend when they hit the road to take on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers.

Jordan Pottorff can be reached at 581-7942 or jbpottorff@eiu.edu