Former Appleton East star Emily La Chapell chooses Belmont after leaving Marquette
APPLETON − "The Music City" will be the basketball home for Emily La Chapell for the next few years.
La Chapell committed to Belmont University in Nashville on Thursday after recently entering the transfer portal following a solid freshman campaign at Marquette. The 5-foot-11 guard averaged 5.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 32 games for the Golden Eagles, including 20 starts. She made the Big East all-freshman team and was the Big East freshman of the week on two occasions.
Belmont was 23-12 last season and was 17-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Bruins finished as MVC co-champs with Illinois State in their first season competing in the league. Belmont is one of the top mid-majors in the nation, having won five Ohio Valley Conference titles during a six-year span from 2016 to 2022 prior to its inaugural season in the MVC.
La Chapell's familiarity with Belmont head coach Bart Brooks and the rest of the Bruins staff played a big role in her decision.
"Coach Brooks and his staff recruited me during my initial recruitment in high school and were one of my final choices when making my decision at the time," La Chapell said. "Due to COVID protocols, I was never able to visit them − or other schools − so I never got a true picture of what they had to offer. Meeting with their staff and support teams, I was really impressed with their commitment to student-athletes."
The timetable was unexpectedly accelerated, according to La Chapell.
"I did not anticipate committing this early to a program and planned on visiting several other schools," she said. "We had a short window to decide, because I wanted to commit to a new program before the 'Summer II' session."
She added that the coaching staff has yet to decide whether she will redshirt or ask for a waiver to play this season.
"Either way, there is a plan moving forward," she said. "The extra year will allow for some extra opportunities academically, which will be nice too. "
La Chapell was an Associated Press all-state first-team pick her junior and senior years. She had a banner career at Appleton East, finishing with 1,885 points and a trip to the WIAA Division 1 state title game her senior season. She was the named the Fox Valley Association co-player of the year her senior season after averaging 20.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.8 steals.
"I am grateful for the opportunity and would like to thank all the schools that contacted me," she said. "They were all great and very professional and patient with my process. It's not an easy thing to do, to be honest, so the schools' patience and understanding was greatly appreciated by both myself and family."
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Former Appleton East star Emily La Chapell headed to Belmont University
