By: Matt Florjancic, ‘07
BEREA, Ohio – It has long been said that patience is a virtue, and for Baldwin Wallace University women’s basketball player Bella Vaillant, that has proven true more than once during her athletic career.
Vaillant had to wait until her junior year of high school to get an opportunity to play varsity basketball at Perrysburg. Then, after joining the BW program, Vaillant had to wait until her sophomore year to see significant minutes and prove what she could do for a perennial Ohio Athletic Conference Championship and NCAA Division III contender.
“It wasn’t that difficult mainly because in high school, I sucked until my junior year,” Vaillant said. “I was so bad. I was at the bottom of the scout because I was just coming off the bench. That kind of role was something that I wasn’t unfamiliar to.
“My senior year is really when I bloomed, and when Coach Cheri Harrer found me at my recruiting event, she really had no intention of finding another person for the 2021 class. She wanted somebody that was younger than me, and then, I just fell into her lap. I had no other offers at the time, so I just jumped on it.”
Maximizing Opportunities
After waiting her turn at Perrysburg, Vaillant blossomed into a First-Team All-Northern Lakes League, All-Northwest Ohio and All-District selection, as well as a Second-Team All-Ohio honoree.
When she arrived at Baldwin Wallace, seniors Megan Scheibelhut and All-American Lilly Edwards had feature roles in the post. However, rather than be upset having to wait her turn, Vaillant chose to learn the college game from the standout seniors, as well as then-sophomores Kira Philpot and Megan Jurosic and use the time to hone her craft.
“My freshman year, I didn’t see the floor a whole lot,” Vaillant said. “It was probably four or five minutes a game, but Lilly and Megan (Scheibelhut) and Kira did a really good job and even Megan (Jurosic) of making sure that I was growing and getting reps and teaching me how to play BW basketball. My high school program wasn’t run like this at all, so coming in, it was learning a whole new language for me.
“Their guidance and their belief in me really helped me step into that role. Then, I was just so excited to be able to get out there and prove to myself and everybody in the community that I can do it, and I’m supposed to be here, and that our team won’t have a drop off just because Lilly graduated or Megan graduated. We were still competing to that level of excellence, and the program is that good top to bottom.”
Change of Heart
Before committing to Baldwin Wallace, Vaillant did not intend to play college basketball. Instead, the lifelong University of Michigan fan was planning to enter into enemy territory and attend, of all places, The Ohio State University.
However, when BW coach Cheri Harrer and her associate head coach, Cody Hartzler, recruited Vaillant, she felt it was an opportunity she could not pass up.
“The girls on the team were super welcoming and kind,” Vaillant recalled. “The opportunity to just be competitive and not lose that part of myself was really enticing for me because I think I would’ve struggled a lot more than I would realize at the time of losing that part of my identity.
“Coach Harrer and Coach Hartzler just really made it a super welcoming and warm environment and really showed me that I can get a good education and get the opportunity to continue my athletic career at the next level.”
Proving Her Value
Although Vaillant had to wait a year to show what she could do in an expanded role, it did not take her long to maximize her starting role.
In leading the Yellow Jackets to an upset of the No. 2 team in the country, the Trine University Thunder, in the 2022-2023 season opener, Vaillant scored 21 points on eight-of-14 shooting with 11 rebounds and one assist in 31 minutes.
That was the first of her three double-doubles on the season and earned her a spot on the D3hoops.com Team of the Week.
“For that game really -- and we were talking about it before the game -- we had everything to gain and nothing to lose,” Vaillant said. “Nobody really had an expectation for us, and me personally, going into that game. I was in my head battling with the concept of filling Lilly’s shoes and having to step up for that. Kira was injured at the time, so I knew that my team needed me.
“I constantly was focusing on my teammates and trying to do more for them. My teammates really make it a lot easier on me with the pressure and easing that, just being able to deflect anything that I may be worrying about or expectations out there and just thinking about what they need from me and how I can make them better.”
Only the Beginning
The game against Trine was a nice start, but it was anything but a high-water more for Vaillant’s impact for the Yellow Jackets.
Vaillant scored in double figures in 18 of BW’s 28 games, including a career-high 27 points in a rivalry win at John Carroll on February 15, 2023. She finished second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.8 points per game, and went on to earn BW Invitational All-Tournament Team and Second-Team All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors.
Additionally, she led the OAC in field goal percentage (52 percent) and free throw attempts (139).
“I was talking to Coach Cody about this the other day, but my main focus, and some of the things that I love more in basketball, is I love diving on the floor,” Vaillant said. “I like jumping to rebounds and everything like that because those are things that don’t take a whole lot of talent. You don’t have to be super talented to dive for a ball or go get a rebound or anything.
“Those are things that are intangibles. It’s just how hard you’re working, and I personally will pride myself on trying to be the hardest working player in the gym. That’s another thing that I love about Caely Ressler because she’s always giving me a run for my money in that category and being able to push me to work even harder.
“Whenever I do happen to get a double-double or anything, it’s not really something that I’m constantly thinking about during the game. Obviously, I’m trying to score my points or whatever and get the rebounds, but it’s nothing where I’m like, ‘Oh, I need to do this, or it wasn’t a good game.’ It’s more so how my production and what I’m doing is going to affect the team.”
Hungry For More
As part of the BW program, Vaillant has experienced 65 victories in 83 games (a .783 winning percentage). Also, she has been a part of teams that have won multiple in-season tournament championships, one shared and one outright OAC regular-season title, and one OAC Tournament crown, made two trips to the NCAA Division III Tournament and went on a “Sweet 16” run.
Vaillant wants to add another long postseason run with the Yellow Jackets to her resume and knows the only want that can be accomplished is by continuing to work together every day in practice.
“We’re super competitive,” Vaillant said. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It’s truly an ‘iron sharpens iron’ situation, especially down low. We’ve done it since my freshman year, and now, this year, with Kira Philpot and Megan Jurosic, Brooke Thompson, Eily Badertscher, and Sadie Arend, we really just constantly make each other better every day. I would say easily that Kira is my biggest competition in practice, constantly pushing each other to the next level and hoping to make each other better. It’s not necessarily about, ‘Oh, I won,’ or, ‘Oh, you won.’ It’s just the goal of making each other again better for the whole team.
“It makes it so much fun in practice. I personally enjoy it because we can still have that healthy competitive spirit and joke around with each other, but also, when it gets down to business, we’re constantly pushing each other, making each other work harder than we would have to in a game.”