5 Lady Trojans earn all-region honors
MASON CITY - The NIACC women's basketball team landed three players on the all-NJCAA Region XI first team.
NIACC's Mandy Willems, Jada Buford and Autam Mendez all earned first-team all-region honors.
Also for the Lady Trojans, Tahya Campbell was a second-team selection and Kelcie Hale was a third-team pick.
Willems, who was the NJCAA Region XI tournament MVP, was selected as the league's player of the year. NIACC's Todd Ciochetto was selected as the region's coach of the year.
It is the second straight season that the Lady Trojans have placed three players on the first-team all-region squad. Last season, Taylor Laabs, Mikayla Homola and UU Longs were first-team picks.
Willems is averaging 24.6 points per game heading into the NJCAA Division II national tournament. She leads the nation in free throw percentage, sinking 92.8 percent of her attempts.
Willems also leads the nation with 171 3-point goals and ranks second in NJCAA Division II with 787 points.
Willems set an NJCAA single-game for three-point goals in one game with 13. Three times, she scored 45 or more points in a game.
Buford, who was selected to the all-tournament team, averages 19.3 points per game, shooting 43.9 percent from the field. She is ranked ninth in the nation in overall points scored, tallying up 619 in 32 games heading into the national tournament.
Mendez, who was also an all-tournament selection, had eight double-doubles during the course of the 2018-19 season. She averages 16.0 points per game, along with 8.8 rebounds. Mendez leads the team with 273 rebounds.
Campbell averages 12.5 points per game. Campbell is second on the team with 90 assists and third on the squad with 157 rebounds.
Hale averages 8.8 points per game. Hale, who was an all-tournament team selection, is fourth on the team with 68 assists and fifth on the team with 46 steals.
DIVISION II FIRST-TEAM ALL-REGION
|
# |
Player |
College |
Class |
|
22 |
Aliyah Robinson |
DMACC |
So. |
|
34 |
Brittany West |
Iowa Central |
So. |
|
10 |
Breanna Wendland |
Iowa Lakes |
Fr. |
|
14 |
Shareece Smith |
Iowa Lakes |
Fr. |
|
14 |
Anasha Hurst |
Kirkwood |
So. |
|
21 |
Talia Paytiamo |
Little Priest |
So. |
|
3 |
NIACC |
Fr. |
|
|
21 |
NIACC |
Fr. |
|
|
13 |
NIACC |
Fr. |
|
|
25 |
Miah Shelby |
Southeastern |
So. |
DIVISION II SECOND-TEAM ALL-REGION
|
# |
Player |
College |
Class |
|
25 |
Grace Stalzer |
DMACC |
So. |
|
34 |
Ellie Horn |
DMACC |
So. |
|
30 |
Avery Terwilliger |
Iowa Central |
So. |
|
30 |
Samantha Hagedorn |
Iowa Lakes |
Fr. |
|
24 |
Haley Mullinnix |
Kirkwood |
So. |
|
4 |
Ju Gaston |
Kirkwood |
Fr. |
|
1 |
Paige Bradford |
Kirkwood |
Fr. |
|
24 |
NIACC |
So. |
|
|
3 |
Andreisha Waller |
Southeastern |
So. |
|
12 |
Madelyn Moya |
Southwestern |
So. |
DIVISION II THIRD-TEAM ALL-REGION
|
# |
Player |
College |
Class |
|
3 |
Asia Mena |
DMACC |
Fr. |
|
4 |
Tayla Nulty |
Ellsworth |
So. |
|
5 |
Meredith Lincoln |
Ellsworth |
So. |
|
14 |
Shariah Smith |
Iowa Central |
So. |
|
40 |
Safiyer Coleman |
Iowa Lakes |
Fr. |
|
3 |
Mackenzie Jenkins |
Kirkwood |
So. |
|
23 |
Leah Robinson |
Kirkwood |
So. |
|
22 |
Amaya Leon |
Little Priest |
Fr. |
|
5 |
NIACC |
Fr. |
|
|
11 |
Benedetta Murpurgo |
Southeastern |
So. |
|
25 |
Tina Lair-Van Meter |
Southwestern |
So. |
Coach of the Year: Todd Ciochetto, NIACC
Player of the Year: Mandy Willems, NIACC
