RITA SANDERS

Rita Sanders graduated in 1976, after accumulating ten varsity letters in a remarkable high school athletic career.  In basketball, she was a three-year starter.  During her senior year, when she carried a 17.5 ppg average, she was captain of a team that won a Sectional Championship.  Rita was New Castle’s first female Indiana Basketball All-Star and was recently named to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Silver Anniversary team.  She also played softball for four years and ran track for three years.  With a scholarship to Purdue University, she started for the Lady Boilermakers her freshman year and shared a starting position as a sophomore as well as her junior season, when she was team captain.

After suffering a torn ACL, Rita elected to end her collegiate basketball career and graduated from Purdue’s School of Management with an accounting major.  She continued her interest in sports as an assistant coach and as a licensed basketball official.  She and her husband, Roger McConnaughey, are parents of Andrea Lyn and live in Middletown.  Rita enjoys family time, watching sports, and singing with her brother and cousins.