A 5-foot-10 guard from Danville, IL, Capria Brown was a top 75 recruit in class of 2020 and won the Illinois 1A Girls Basketball state title twice (2018, 2019).
Then, she played collegiately for Dayton (2020-22), Missouri State (2022-23), Central Michigan (2023-24) and Eastern Kentucky (2024-25). Last year, she began her pro career in Montenegro, averaging 15.2 points and 5.2 assists for Antivari.
Brown recently chatted with Swish Appeal, speaking openly about her unique family history, hunger for
basketball, ADHD and mental health.
On going to Schlarman Academy:
It holds a very special place in my heart. [Earlier] I went to a public school, and my parents were like, “You know, we want to find a better school [for you].” Nothing wrong with people who go to public schools, but they’re not for everybody.
Schlarman being a private school, I was able obviously to get the attention I needed for my education because I do suffer from ADHD, I got to practice my faith and I got to play basketball. And I just made many great friends. I made friends with people you wouldn’t even expect me to make friends with, which is what makes Schlarman so special. I came out with a whole class as family.
After I went to Schlarman, we were winning my fifth grade year, sixth grade year, seventh grade year, eighth grade year, all the way through high school. We were just really good and had all the talent. My freshman year we fell short, we didn’t go to state and then we just bought in 10 times harder and so my sophomore and junior year we went to state, we won. In the end we came out with three conference championships as well, probably four.
On playing for four different colleges:
Um, so Dayton, I was there for two years. That coach ended up getting a better opportunity. She went to the University of Illinois and she’s still there. I went to Missouri State because one of the assistants at Dayton got an assistant job there. I was there for half a season. My experience? Not the best. This took a very big mental toll on me, so I left.
I went to Central Michigan and I loved it there. Absolutely adored it. The coach that was there actually helped me fall back in love with basketball, which I need to text her [about] and remind her of that. Then, the full season came upon and she got fired; we got a new coach. I ended up staying, because I wanted to do a mental health waiver, that’s how bad it was, but my mental health waiver didn’t pass, so I had to sit out a whole year. I only played half a season at Central, which ended up being my best year.
I left Central Michigan because we got a new coach, she wanted new players, obviously, which was fine by me. So, I left, went to Eastern Kentucky and honestly, it turned out to be the best school I ever went to. Love those coaches. Love those girls.
On strategies for dealing with adversity:
I think journaling is my therapy. I also got into walking. Everyone should go on a walk I believe, because walking is just so therapeutic to me.
If the day is not the best, if it’s raining, I will play video games or color my coloring book, whatever, just to kind of keep myself distracted. I think that’s really what I shoot for, I just want to be distracted in that moment.
A special thank you to Darko Pekic of Alfa Globe for arranging the interview.
