Brittany Harmon Schiller
1998 Women’s Basketball NAIA National Champions
We had already gone on spring break thinking the basketball season was over. I was a senior so I knew this would be my last spring break, and I was ready to make it a good one. We lost our game in the conference tournament to go to Nationals and knew we hadn't qualified. Then we got the call that changed everything. I thought I had played my last college basketball game, so, when I realized I had the opportunity to come back and play again, I was going to take advantage of it. I had a very positive mindset going to the tournament. I think we all did, and it paid off. To everyone's surprise and excitement, the Lady Cavaliers, an unseated team, won the title.
The whole experience with nationals was just phenomenal, and the school spirit behind it was great. We were out in Sioux City, Iowa, so we had our families and some staff but only a few students - some students drove out once we made it to the Final Four, and it was great to have that support out there. Then we had a fabulous welcome back when we came home. When we returned to campus, there was a huge gathering in the Campus Center. We had great coaches, Karl Smesko, Bob Boldon, Jerilyn Cushing and others, who had a lot to do with our success. We all have a great bond now through that experience.
I feel honored to be a part of the first team to win a National Championship for Walsh. We were definitely an underdog but we all knew how special the team was and how good we really were, so it was just us believing in ourselves and knowing that we could do it.
Brittany served as captain of Walsh's first NAIA National Championship team in 1998. Picked to finish sixth in their league at the start of the season, the Cavaliers went on to become National Champions. Brittany is currently a Vice President with FishBait Marketing and earned her Master of Business Administration from Kent State University. She was inducted into Walsh University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007. Brittany resides in Pasadena, Maryland, with her husband, Dave, and two daughters, Anna and Emily.