By ANGELA MORYAN
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
FISHERS — “Riley Schellhammer is a name to remember.”
She may still be in middle school but she’s playing like a professional. The 13-year-old from Fishers has shined from the moment she got on a basketball court.
Jamie Schellhammer, Riley’s mom, said, “I’ve coached her since she’s been in the first grade, and ever since that first season, she would do things on the court or see things that as a coach, even I wouldn’t see, and I played Division I basketball and coached Division I basketball.
“When players have those intangibles, you know they’re going to be something special.”
Her trainer Courtney Delks, a former Miss Indiana Basketball and star Purdue guard, saw that same potential.
“I put her through workouts, the same workouts I’d put a professional player through or high-level college, and she’s able to do it at a high efficiency, knock down shots,” Delks said. “I was showing her clips of Sabrina Ionescu, who plays for the New York Liberty, and she was doing the same exact actions that she was doing. She has the ‘it’ factor and she puts the work in, so that’s the biggest thing.”
Riley already has a Division I offer from Valparaiso.
Schellhammer’s not just impressing in Indiana, she’s impressing the whole country. She’ll represent Team USA in the United World Games this month. That phone call is one her dad, Eric Schellhammer, won’t soon forget.
“I was sitting in my office. I got a phone call from Chris Hansen, who started ESPN Hoop Girls, and he was like, ‘Hey, I got a 16U team that’s going overseas. I’d like Riley to play on it.’ I said, ‘Chris, she’s 13.’ He says, ‘I know.’ He goes, ‘She would be very good for this team. We’d love to have her.’”
Riley said, “I was honestly shocked. I didn’t expect it at such a young age. Maybe in the future, but now I was just in shock, and I knew that I was going somewhere.”
Jamie said, “She’s accomplished something that lots of people can only dream of. To represent your country doing anything is a huge accomplishment, so to get that phone call for a 13-year-old to play and compete on a 16-year-old team is nothing short of amazing.”
Expect to see a lot more of Riley.