The IU women’s basketball team continued to build toward the future earlier this week.
On Wednesday IU announced that three new recruits signed National Letters of Intent to come play for IU Coach Teri Moren’s squad next season.
The most heralded of these recruits is 6-foot guard Grace Berger from Louisville, Kentucky. Leading up to her senior year at Sacred Heart High School this season, Berger has averaged 14.5 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists. She went 72-25 in high school and made an appearance at last year’s Kentucky state finals.
ESPN ranked her the 46th best recruit in the country, making her the second five-star recruit for Moren and the IU program. The other is freshman guard Jaelynn Penn, who also came from Louisville.
Much like Berger, 5-foot-6 guard Chanel Wilson is another consummate winner in this year’s signing group. Wilson is from Powder Springs, Georgia, where she has led McEachern High School to three consecutive state championships.
During her junior year, Wilson averaged 12.9 points, 5.0 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 2.1 steals. However, Wilson is coming off an injury as her season last year was cut short by an ACL tear.
The third recruit is 6-foot-3 forward Aleksa Gulbe out of Riga, Latvia. She is the third Latvian player in women’s program history after Kristiana Stauere and Linda Rubene both played on the 2011-12 team. Gulbe, a surprise signing, averaged 12.4 points and 6.4 rebounds at the 2017 Under-18 European Championship.
Even though the Hoosiers will lose seniors Tyra Buss and Amanda Cahill after this season, they will be able to fix many of their depth issues after the three recent signings and after transfers Ali Patberg and Brenna Wise become eligible to play next year.
Murphy Wheeler
