Two former Notre Dame WBB players to enter Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame
The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame will make room for two former Notre Dame women’s basketball players this spring. Former Fighting Irish stars Ruth Riley-Hunter and Sheila McMillen-Keller will enter the hall in the class of 2023.
McMillen-Keller averaged 28.2 points per game during her senior season at Rochester (Ind.) High School. She holds the Indiana state scoring record with 1,696 points. She became the first Notre Dame player to appear in four-straight NCAA Tournaments from 1996-99. She scored 1,439 points in her Irish career and was a Second-Team All-Big East member as a senior.
Riley-Hunter played at North Miami High School just outside of Macy, Ind. She led the team to a 20-1 record as a senior and holds school records for points, rebounds and blocks. Riley-Hunter averaged 18.7 points per game for Notre Dame in 2000-01 when the Irish won the first national championship in program history. Her list of accolades that season is extensive; Associated Press National Player of the Year, Naismith Player of the Year and Final Four MVP, among others awarded by various outlets. Riley-Hunter was also a defensive stalwart, claiming the Big East Defensive Player of the Year award three times.
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Riley-Hunter’s career aligned perfectly with that of current Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey; the two showed up in South Bend as part of the same recruiting class. Riley-Hunter was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2021 WNBA Draft, and she became the first player to win Final Four MVP and WNBA Finals MVP honors when she claimed the latter with the Detroit Shock in 2003. Riley-Hunter won another championship with Detroit in 2006 and was an All-Star with the Shock in 2005.
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Riley-Hunter had a long, illustrious career in basketball. She won a gold medal playing for the United States in the 2004 Athens Olympics. She was the Vice President of the WNBA Players Association, and she served on the Notre Dame Monogram Club Board of Directors. She entered the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.
Here’s a list of the entire Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2023. The inductees will be honored on April 29 in Indianapolis.
- Kasia (McClendon) Campbell
- Bruce Dockery
- Katie Douglas
- Jennifer (Marlow) Drudge
- Ruth (Riley) Hunter
- Sheila (McMillen) Keller
- Diane (Hoereth) Metz
- Charmonique Stallworth
- Lisa (Shepherd) Stidham
