Ally Schimel serves as a great reminder to always give it your all because you never know who is watching. The sophomore shooting guard led Oregon State to victory during the semifinal round of the West Coast Conference women’s college basketball tournament on Monday.
She is a former walk-on who flew way under the radar during the recruiting process!
Schimel’s journey to Division-I college basketball is a testament to hard work and determination. If you do you best to succeed and carry yourself with integrity, someone is going to take notice.
Who is Ally Schimel?
Schimel is a true sophomore at Oregon State. The 5-foot-10 guard is averaging 6.1 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 28.3 minutes per game this season. She started all 33 games.
However, it was never supposed to be this way.
Ally Schimel is a native of Corbett, Oregon. Corbett has a total population of less than 3,500. Corbett High School enrolls less than 500 students in Grades 8-12. It is small-town USA.
She absolutely dominated her high school basketball competition as a junior and senior, earning 3A All-State honors in back-to-back years. She was also named as he 2024 Oregon 3A State Player of the Year, 3A State Tournament MVP and Coastal Range League Player of the Year as a senior. No big deal!
Schimel led her team to the state title game in three-straight years and won it as a senior. It was the first state championship for Corbett in girls basketball since 1987 and capped an undefeated season.
Even though Schimel is Corbett’s all-time leading scorer with more than 1,500 career points, her only two offers out of high school were from George Fox University and Oregon Tech. George Fox is D3. Oregon Tech is NAIA. She did not have a single D1 offer.
How did she end up playing college basketball at Oregon State?
Ally Schimel scored a career-high 21 points for Oregon State during the West Coast Conference Tournament semifinal on Monday. She made seven of her nine attempts from the field and five of her six attempts from beyond the arc, with four rebounds and one assist.
What AJ said 🗣️🗣️🗣️ https://t.co/8k81q9BBaG pic.twitter.com/IujVm24zCb
— Oregon State WBB (@BeaverWBB) March 10, 2026
The Beavers punched their ticket to the conference championship game with a six-point win over LMU. Schimel got mobbed by her teammates in celebration of her performance.
This is just such a cool story to me.
— Brenna Greene (@BrennaGreene_) March 9, 2026
Two years ago, Corbett's Ally Schimel took a chance and walked on to OSU.
Two years later, and she's putting up a career-high 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting to lead her team over WCC #1 seed LMU. OSU will play in the championship tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/pfWcRl7FGR
But how did she get here? Head coach Scott Rueck told the story during his postgame press conference. He just so happened to be watching the Class 3A high school basketball championship game in 2024 because he knew some of the players on the other team. And then Schimel popped off for Corbett.
The announcer at one point said she looked like Caitlin Clark.
Rueck agreed. He offered Ally Schimel the opportunity to walk-on at Oregon State just a few days later.
Worth three minutes of your time.
— Brenna Greene (@BrennaGreene_) March 9, 2026
Scott Rueck talking about how he found Ally Schimel two years ago and offered her a walk-on spot. Today Ally scored a career-high 21 points in OSU's WCC semifinal today.
Also a good reminder. You never know who's watching. pic.twitter.com/WzuZggjjVU
She accepted the offer and earned a scholarship with the Beavers midway through her freshman season.
Now she is the reason her team will play for a conference championship!
Not only is Ally Schimel an example of patience, self-faith and hard work, her journey to Oregon State serves as a great reminder to always give it your all. You never know who is watching!