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From Eminence High School to ESPN: Indiana University senior and former Eels star Sinclair to compete in college 3-point contest
EMINENCE -- Indiana University senior Aulani Sinclair earned a spot on the All-Big Ten Honorable Mention team this season by leading the Hoosiers in scoring (15.5 per game) and three-point percentage (.385).
Her prowess in the latter has earned her a spot in the State Farm Women's 3-Point Championship. She will compete in Atlanta, site of the men's NCAA Division I Final Four, against seven of the best shooters in the country and the event will air live on ESPN on Thursday at 7 p.m.
"It's a great experience to have and just to be in the same category with all those great shooters is an experience I'm always going to cherish," Sinclair said. "It's going to be a great opportunity to see the rest of the people that are participating there and just to live it up. It doesn't happen all the time."
But before she was terrorizing the Big Ten -- and now national competition -- Sinclair was causing fits for Putnam County's schools as a star at Eminence High School.
"Coming from a small town, when I first got to Bloomington it was big difference," Sinclair said. "Going from having no stop signs in your town to having a town full of college kids; having to walk from class every day when you've got three minutes to get from one side of campus to the other side of campus; it was a big difference.
"The basketball aspect of it is a lot more fast paced. There is a lot of competition in the Big Ten. I played AAU all the way until I got to college, and that prepared me the best I would say, but every game in the Big Ten was great competition. You couldn't take any win for granted. It was a big learning curve, but I just excited to have all that experience behind me."
Sinclair averaged 26.1 points, 14.4 rebounds, 4.4 blocks and 4.5 steals during her four seasons at Eminence, a do-it-all player, but really turned into a shooter when she arrived in Bloomington.
Her size -- she's 6-foot-1 -- and her athleticism made her a nightmare to defend on the perimeter.
"In high school I used a little bit of everything; I shot three-pointers, but I went off the dribble often," Sinclair said. "As soon as I got to college and they put me at the big guard I could shoot over a lot of the smaller guards. I had open threes a lot more.
"When I started shooting against other guards I knew that I had an advantage because I was a little bit taller guard. I have a high release so I could get my shot off a lot quicker against the shorter defenders. When I knew I had the opportunity, I just tried to get in the gym every day and shoot a lot of reps."
The Hoosiers season wrapped up when the team lost to Michigan in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament and Sinclair, hoping to continue playing basketball professionally next year, said she thought it would be the last time she wore the Crimson and Cream.
Then she got a call during spring break a couple weeks ago.
"I was just with my family; I didn't go anywhere special," Sinclair said. "Coach (Curt) Miller called me and said that he was contacted and wanted to know if I wanted to participate in it. I said, 'Yeah, for sure.'"
Sinclair has been playing ball since she was in fifth grade. She loved the game so much at a young age that she couldn't wait for the middle school team.
She began playing youth games in Martinsville.
The complete field is being announced two names at a time, but Sinclair was among the very first choices (so far three other names -- Florida State's Alexa Deluzio, N.C. State's Marissa Kastanek, and Middle Tennessee's Kortni Jones -- have been announced).
It's not the first three-point contest she's ever been in, but it certainly is the biggest stage. Sinclair said she's not nervous. She's been preparing for this since she was little.
"When I was younger I remember watching it with my family and now to have an opportunity to play in it is pretty cool," Sinclair said. "Everyone has a different form. I'm just going to go out there and shoot how I shoot and just really focus in."
The three-point contest is a challenge of quickness endurance as much as shooting. Competitors have 60 seconds to attempt 25 three-point shots.
There are five racks of five balls each positioned around the three-point arc (one in each corner, one on each winning and one at the top of the key). Each basket counts for one point except the fifth ball on every rack. The specially marked "money ball" is worth two points.
The highest scores advance, splitting the field in half each round until a winner is determined.
Sinclair's strategy, she said, is to shoot fast and focus on the money balls.
"I've been practicing shooting off the rack, because it's a lot different than getting passes thrown to you and then shooting," she said. "I'm just going to go out there and do the best I can. If I win, that'd be great, but I'm just going to go out there and cherish the moment.
"I'm just going to enjoy the time I've been there and represent IU one more time."
Sinclair and her long-time trainer will make the trip to Atlanta on Wednesday and her schedule is quite full.
She's hoping to have a fun trip and get the win, but mostly she is just happy to have a chance to wear her Hoosiers jersey one more time.
"To have the opportunity to wear the IU jersey one more time and represent IU can really let everyone know that IU is rebuilding and they're going to be back," she said. "A lot of the credit goes to coach Miller for his great offense this year and my teammates setting great screens for me to get open.
"It's nice to go out with one last thing and wear the jersey one more time."