NIACC's Mendez is NJCAA player of year

By KIRK HARDCASTLE

NIACC sports information director

MASON CITY – The summer of 2019 wasn't a pleasant one for NIACC's Autam Mendez.

Mendez had two surgeries to repair both of her feet in order to get healthy for her sophomore basketball season.

"It was really hard just knowing that I was going to come in behind when it was going to be a big season for me," Mendez said. "I was very anxious during my recovery because I didn't know what the outcome was going to be."

The recovery time lingered into the start of the 2019-20 season as Mendez missed four of the Lady Trojans' first five games.

Once finally healthy, the 5-foot-10 sophomore guard from St. Paul, Minn. started scoring baskets and grabbing rebounds in bunches.

She helped guide the Lady Trojans to the top of the national rankings in February.

She helped lead the Lady Trojans to the ICCAC regular season title.

She was an all-tournament selection as the Lady Trojans won the NJCAA Region XI tournament for the second straight season.

She was the ICCAC women's basketball player of the year.

She was a first-team NJCAA Division II all-American.

And on Thursday, she was named the NJCAA Division II national player of the year – a first for a NIACC women's basketball player.

"Autam is a great player and person," said NIACC coach Todd Ciochetto, who was selected as the NJCAA Division II national coach of the year. "She battled through injury to become the player she is today.

"There is nothing Autam cannot do on the floor. She is special both on and off the floor and very deserving of this award."

Mendez, who has committed to San Jose State University, averaged 16.9 points per game. She scored a career-high 48 points, including 11 3-point goals, against Little Priest Tribal College on Feb. 26.

Mendez, who scored 489 points, connected on 81 3-point goals with 245 rebounds, 64 steals and 55 assists. She also recorded 12 double/doubles in her sophomore campaign.

"I'm not just an offensive player and I'm not just a defensive player," Mendez said. "I play both sides of the floor. I think I also showed by basketball IQ seeing the floor well."

Mendez ranks third on the school's career scoring list with 1,045 points, third on the school's career 3-point list with 164 and third on the school's career rebounding list with 538.

She is the only player in school history with 1,000 career points, 500 career rebounds and 100 career 3-point goals.

Mendez admits that all her honors and accolades were not accomplished by herself.

"My coaches and my teammates helped me get this award by pushing me in practice, supporting me and holding me accountable to my role as a leader and teammate."

In her final game as a Lady Trojan, Mendez scored 11 points and collected 14 rebounds in a 95-73 win over Kirkwood in the regional title game in the NIACC gym.

The regional title victory also wrapped up two perfect seasons on the home floor for Mendez and the rest of the NIACC sophomores, who were an unblemished 31-0. The Lady Trojans were 16-0 at home in 2019-20 and 15-0 in 2018-19.

But the NIACC women never got the chance to play at national tournament where the Lady Trojans were the top seed. COVID-19 canceled the tournament that was set to be played in Port Huron, Mich.

At the 2019 national tournament in Harrison, Ark., the Lady Trojans won their first game but bowed out with two consecutive losses.

"Having experienced nationals just makes you want to win it even more," Mendez said, "and I know that we would have won it this year.

"I believe we were at our peak and were playing great team ball. So it hurts bad knowing I couldn't finish the season with my team knowing that we could have won it and made history."

Mendez had a successful freshman season in 2018-19. She averaged 16.4 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in her freshman campaign.

She earned first-team all-region honors as a freshman playing on two unhealthy feet.

So Mendez had surgeries performed on both of her feet.

"I had sprained my ankles a lot," she said. "I lost count a long time ago and it stretched out my ligaments so bad that I had no support in my ankles.

"They anchored in synthetic ligaments so I had support and couldn't sprain my ankles so easily and the recovery wouldn't be long at all."