Ali Schwagmeyer-Belger Tabbed To Lead Women's Basketball

John Wood Community College has announced the appointment of Ali Schwagmeyer-Belger as the new head women's basketball coach. Schwagmeyer-Belger most recently served as a head junior high coach, and assistant high school coach on the Camp Point Central girls basketball team. 

Schwagmeyer-Belger scored 1,950 points in her high school career for the Central-Southeastern co-op and was a two-time all-state selection who graduated in 2008. She was the program's all-time leading scorer when she graduated, a mark since broken by Laney Lantz during the 2018-19 season.

After two years at Charleston Southern, Schwagmeyer-Belger transferred to Quincy University, where she was named the Great Lakes Valley Conference's Player of the Year during her junior season in 2010-11 and was a first-team All-GLVC selection as a senior.

As a junior, she led the GLVC in scoring at 17.8 points, averaged 6.6 rebounds and topped the Hawks with 121 assists and 45 steals. As a senior, she averaged 18 points and 7.9 rebounds to go along with 86 assists and 56 steals. She earned first-team All-Midwest Region honors both seasons.

She played professionally overseas in Germany, Spain and Australia, averaging double figures in scoring and earning all-star honors playing in Perth, Australia. She also served as an assistant coach at Hannibal-LaGrange University during that time.

Interim Athletic Director Adam Hightower said bringing Schwagmeyer-Belger on board is a great fit.

"The idea was to bring in a highly qualified coach and obviously I think we've been able to do that with hiring Aly. Her name is very well known in this part of Illinois and I'm excited to see what she can do with recruits," Hightower said.

Schwagmeyer-Belger and her husband, former Quincy University point guard Courtney Belger, run the 25 Eight Mentality AAU program. Her dedication to the development of athletes, particularly by drawing from local talent in the community, distinguishes her as a coach.