In a season full of unusual experiences like postponed games and daily COVID-19 testing, Iowa women’s basketball is grateful for the veteran leadership its small senior class provides.

This season, Iowa is graduating two seniors — guards Alexis Sevillian and Zion Sanders.

“Those two bring so much leadership, and so much love and support to our team,” junior center Monika Czinano said. “I’m really going to miss them, but I’m excited to see what the next steps are for them.”

Sevillian and Sanders — both captains alongside sophomore guard Kate Martin — have not seen a lot of playing time this season.

“Both of them really haven’t been able to contribute on the floor this year, and that’s incredibly frustrating for seniors,” head coach Lisa Bluder said.  “But they’ve handled it really, really well and I respect them a lot for that.”

After stepping on the court as a full-time starter throughout the 2019-20 season, Sevillian suffered an injury during the offseason, forcing her out of the starting lineup. She has seen the court sparingly this year, registering 151 minutes on the court in just 15 appearances.

Sevillian’s only start of the year came Dec. 22 in place of the then-injured McKenna Warnock.

“It’s been a hard year for those guys, for Alexis specifically,” Bluder said. “Because she redshirted her freshman year for us to balance out our recruiting classes, and then she’s a part-time starter, full-time starter, and then this year she really becomes a role player for us. And really a lot of it was because of health issues, offseason injuries that really didn’t come back as well as they were supposed to.”

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While her minutes on the court have been limited this season, Sevillian has still found ways to contribute off it.

Sevillian is a part of the Iowa Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (ISAAC), the Big Ten Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism Coalition, and Iowa’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Accountability board.

“Lexi is so mature — mature beyond her years,” junior center Monika Czinano said. “She’s just so put together. She’s involved in everything, ISAAC, all that stuff. She’s just really wise for her age.”

Sanders has only taken the court in five games this season, registering a team-low 15 minutes played.

But to her teammates and coaches alike, Sanders is seen as an influential leader off the court. Sanders first came to Bluder as a freshman walk-on. Eventually, Bluder and her staff awarded Sanders a scholarship in 2018 because of the tremendous off-court impact Sanders had on Iowa women’s basketball.

“They’ve both been super influential to my time here at Iowa.” Czinano said. “I remember Z showing us, all of us in my grade, around on our official visit. She’s just so good with people, you can come to her with anything.”

Sevillian and Sanders will be honored before the Hawkeyes’ season finale against Nebraska on Saturday at 7 p.m. The matchup will be streamed on BTN+

As of now, it is unclear if Sanders or Sevillian will use the extra year of eligibility the NCAA granted all winter sports athletes prior to the start of the 2020-21 season.