5 Lady Trojans earn all-region honors

NIACC's Mandy Willems takes her turn cutting down the net after winning the regional title on Sunday in the NIACC gym.

March 11, 2019

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	Mandy Willems	NIACC	Fr.
21	Jada Buford	NIACC	Fr.
13	Autam Mendez	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	Tahya Campbell	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	Kelcie Hale	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