Hardship strengthened Tenleigh Phelps into basketball standout at IU South Bend

Tenleigh Phelps has a sense of calm within her now. With experience comes maturity.

An Indiana Junior All-Star at Triton Central in 2020, Phelps suffered a serious knee injury just before the start of her senior year. While her commitment to Youngstown State was honored, Phelps never stepped onto the court as a freshman then finished a less-than-impressive sophomore season that confirmed in her mind she needed a fresh start.

“It was tough, especially being a little bit further from home,” explained Phelps. “It was the furthest I’d ever experienced. It played more of a mental role.

“My freshman year, I definitely struggled a lot mentally. That made it harder in terms of trying to come back and trying to find my place on a Division I basketball team. It was super tough.”

Phelps needed a second knee surgery to remove scar tissue just months before her high school graduation. She arrived on the Youngstown campus anxious to prove herself.

“Once I got cleared, I had a collision in practice and had a head injury,” said Phelps. “As soon as I came back, I was out again for a good four months with a concussion and an issue with my back. It definitely was not how I planned it going.”

Phelps enjoyed a quick holiday break back home in Shelbyville before returning to South Bend where she is in her second season playing basketball at Indiana University South Bend.

“I don’t think Youngstown was the best for me (anymore),” said Phelps. “I think I struggled a lot mentally with a lot of different things. I started to not like basketball anymore. That was tough because you spend your whole life playing it and (Youngstown) was taking the love of it out of me and I was starting to question everything.

“I didn’t like the game that I always loved playing. I didn’t like that it was being taken from me. I decided that no matter where I went next, I needed to go somewhere else because I wanted to like it again and I wanted to have that relationship again that I missed at Youngstown.”

South Bend felt right for Phelps and it helped that a former Triton Central teammate, Lizzie Graham, was joining the same roster.

“I really liked the team and the family atmosphere,” said Phelps of her campus visit. “And I knew Lizzie was going there so that helped a little bit knowing that I knew someone that was going there. I thought that was the best fit and being two-and-a-half hours away from home instead of five-and-a-half hours.”

Phelps had a tremendous feeling of accomplishment when she finally took the court in Youngstown. She played 20 games as a redshirt freshman during the 2022-23 season and averaged 1.6 ppg.

“That was super awesome because obviously you work for it as long as you know,” said Phelps. “Basketball is all you know and you get there and couldn’t play. That was tough. Being able to say I did it and more so like I beat it. That was awesome.”

Phelps fit in quickly at IU South Bend with a veteran roster already in place.

“It was definitely easier because last year there was a lot of experience on the team at South Bend,” she said. “When I came it, it was really easy to mesh with them and connect with them. The Gard twins (fifth-year seniors Katie and Maddie Gard) and Emma Fisher (another fifth-year senior) definitely had a culture of come in and work your butt off. That is what we did and it made it really easy for me to want to do it.”

With Phelps in the starting lineup, the Titans won their first 24 games, not suffering their first loss until Feb. 14. Along the way, Phelps set the program record for points in a game (42) and rebounds in a game (19).

“It’s been really fun and really crazy and surreal,” she said. “I didn’t think coming from Youngstown that I would be doing stuff like that. I am very thankful for it.”

In her first season, Phelps averaged 19.6 points and 7.8 rebounds while helping the Titans win the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season and postseason titles.

IU South Bend defeated Grand View University, 72-53, in its opening game of the NAIA Women’s Basketball National Championship Tournament on March 15 in Madison, South Dakota.

One night later, Dakota State ended the Titans’ season, 85-47. Phelps finished with a team-high 14 points and added seven rebounds and two assists.

IU South Bend’s 14-player roster this season features nine freshmen and sophomores.

“I would definitely say this year is a bigger leadership role (for me),” she admitted. “Last year, there was more experience so it was a little more dispersed. There were multiple people you could go to and look at if you wanted to know how to do something.

“This year, it’s a little bit less because of those seniors graduating. The coaches tell me all the time, I know it’s unrealistic, but you have to be perfect all the time because you have a lot of people looking at you. If you make mistakes and do things you shouldn’t be doing, everyone else thinks they can do that too. It is definitely a lot bigger (of a leadership role) but I trust myself to be in that position. I hope the rest of the team trusts me to be in that position.”

Following a 103-58 victory Saturday over Lawrence Tech, the Titans are 11-2 overall and 4-2 in conference games. Phelps is averaging team-highs in scoring (21.3 ppg), rebounding (6.9 rpg) and assists (2.6 apg).

“We are a lot different this year. We are a lot younger,” said Phelps. “We have a lot of freshmen that are looked at and expected to come in and play big minutes. As a freshman coming out of high school, it’s a lot different. You have to learn a lot. You are still in that head space and that mentality of who you were in high school, but you have to learn that college is different and things you did in high school you can’t do in a college game.

“So, they are definitely learning but I think they are eager to learn and are fast learners. With more experience, we are going to keep getting better.”

Phelps is majoring in Criminal Justice with the goal of becoming a homicide detective. How that is achieved will become more of a focus after her basketball career concludes.

Phelps has one more season of eligibility left which she will use in the 2025-26 season. And she is entertaining the idea of playing professionally overseas but she is well aware how best-laid plans can change.

“Next year definitely is going to be tough,” said Phelps. “It definitely doesn’t hit you until the last minute. It definitely hasn’t hit me yet, but I know that it will. And I am not ready for it to end.”

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