Seniors prepare for final home matchup

After appearing in a combined 150 games at Assembly Hall, seniors Sasha Chaplin, Jasmine McGhee, Linda Rubene and Aulani Sinclair will take Branch McCracken Court one last time at 2 p.m. Sunday against Minnesota for Senior Day.

The four have combined to average 40.9 of the team’s 55.3 points per game this season, accounting for the top four scoring averages on the team.

Sinclair and McGhee have started in every game for the Hoosiers (11-16, 2-12) this season.

Sinclair, who grew up a Hoosier fan in Eminence, Ind., about 50 minutes away from Bloomington, said earlier this season she was “starstruck” her first time on Branch McCracken Court.

“Actually being on the court just gave me goosebumps everywhere,” she said.

Since then, Sinclair has registered one of the best careers in IU women’s basketball history. She currently sits at 18th on IU’s all-time scoring list with more than 1,100 points. She’s first in 3-point field goals made during her career, and is also third in 3-point field goals made in a season, with more than 65 this year.

She leads the team in scoring this season, with 15.6 points per game. This has been her best season in scoring average, rebounding, assists, steals and blocks.

The forward has played in 1,027 out of a possible 1,080 minutes (95 percent) this season.

Sinclair has also appeared in the most games of this group, suiting up in 117 games and starting in 78 of them during her career. She carries a 9.4 points per game average for her career.

McGhee, who transferred from Vincennes University after her sophomore year, has netted 671 points during her two-year career with the Hoosiers.

She has started in 51 of her 54 career games at IU, averaging 33.4 minutes per game.
The guard from Anderson, Ind., also added before the season started that it is a dream come true to play at Assembly Hall.

McGhee is coming off of her best scoring week of her IU career. She scored 26 points in a win against No. 22 Purdue last Wednesday, including the game-winning buzzer-beater that earned her the No. 10 spot on ESPN’s SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays the next day. Sunday at Illinois she scored 25 points.

She shot 63.6 percent (21-33) from the field during those two games. Her 11 field goals against Purdue tied a career high, as did her three 3-point field goals at Illinois.

McGhee is second on the team in scoring and rebounding this season, averaging 12.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. She also leads the team in steals.

Chaplin, who is a fifth year senior after receiving a medical redshirt for her freshman season in which she only played eight games before suffering a season-ending injury, has scored 652 points during her 86 career games.

Chaplin has had injury shortened seasons that have caused her to miss at least 10 games in three of her five seasons.

This season she has been affectionately referred to as “grandma” by her teammates for the time she has spent in the program.

Chaplin is averaging 5.9 points per game this season, good for fourth highest on the team, in 27 appearances, the second most of her career. She scored 8.7 points per game in 30 contests during the 2011-12 season.

Rubene, who transferred to IU after her sophomore year at Iowa Western Community College, has appeared in 51 games for the Hoosiers during her two-year career.

She has showed a scoring presence this season, scoring 6.7 points per game, third on the team. The forward from Latvia only scored 40 points all of last season, for a 1.7 average.

She has started 20 of 27 games for the Hoosiers this season.