Schwagmeyer-Belger moves across town to take over as women’s basketball coach at QU

QUINCY — Ali Schwagmeyer-Belger was introduced during a press conference at 1 p.m. Tuesday as the next women’s basketball coach at Quincy University.

Schwagmeyer-Belger, who spent last season as the women’s basketball coach at John Wood Community College, was selected to replace Courtney Boyd, who announced April 4 that she was leaving after two seasons at QU to become the women’s basketball coach at Valparaiso.

Schwagmeyer-Belger inherits a team that posted a 25-8 record last season and won the Great Lakes Valley Conference postseason tournament, earning a bid in the Midwest Regional for the NCAA Division II Tournament. Quincy lost 108-72 in the first round to Grand Valley State, which went on to win the national championship.

Only five players from last year’s roster could come back. Chomp Danso, a junior center, averaged 8.1 points and 6.2 rebounds last season. Two freshmen — Katrina Stack and Gwen O’Connell — and sophomore Sydney Runsewe combined for 31 points in 33 games last season. Freshman Dylan Price did not play last season.

Junior Mikayla Huffine, sophomore Mariann Blass, sophomore Ashlynn Arnsman and freshman Savannah James (who didn’t play last season) are all transferring next season. The Hawks also are losing six seniors.

Schwagmeyer-Belger grew up in Camp Point and graduated from Quincy University. She and her husband, former Quincy University point guard Courtney Belger, are the coaches of 25 Eight Mentality, an AAU girls basketball program..

She took over at John Wood in June six weeks after Lauren Bogle resigned as the women’s basketball coach. Schwagmeyer-Belger was the fourth head coach in the history of the program. 

She guided the Blazers to a 10-20 record during an injury-riddled season. JWCC only had eight players on the roster for most of the season. Blair Eftink, the team’s leading scorer, has already signed to play for Quincy University next season.

Schwagmeyer-Belger graduated from Camp Point Central as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,950 points — she now ranks third — and was a two-time all-state selection. She was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2022. 

She spent two seasons at Charleston Southern before transferring to QU. She was named the GLVC Player of the Year as a junior in 2011, guiding the Hawks to a 16-2 conference record and 24-2 regular-season record. She averaged 17.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game that season. As a senior, Schwagmeyer repeated as a first-team All-GLVC selection and finished her two-year QU career with 978 points, 398 rebounds and 207 assists.

Her professional playing career took her to Germany, Spain, Romania, Australia and Serbia. She also served as an assistant coach at Hannibal-LaGrange University.