Division I Women's Basketball Selects All-Region Teams

April 13, 2021

The Iowa Community College Athletic Conference announced the 2021 Division I Women's Basketball All-Region teams on Tuesday.

Iowa Western notched their third straight Region XI title after winning the Division I regular season & splitting the all-ICCAC regular season title with Kirkwood. The Reivers, with a record of 19-1 in conference play, earned three First Team All-Region selections.

Leading the way was sophomore guard Gabriella Smith. Smith was voted as the 2021 Division I Women's Basketball Player of the Year. She averaged 15.7 points per game in ICCAC competition which was third best among all-ICCAC players and second among ICCAC Division I players.

Smith was an efficient scorer, ranking in the top-six in both field goal percentage (50.2) and three-point percentage (40.8). Peripherally, she averaged 7.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. She scored in double figures in all but one game this season.

Joining Smith on First Team was fellow sophomore Hayley Berfield and freshman Isnelle Natabou.

Berfield was the team's second-highest scorer at 11.1 points per game. She made 37 three pointers, eighth most in the conference, and was sixth in both assist/turnover ratio (1.9) and steals (38).

Natabou, a 6-5 center from Czech Republic, averaged 9.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. She led the league in field goal percentage shooting 62.1% in conference games.

With the regional title, Iowa Western's head coach Lindsey Vande Hoef was named the 2021 Division I Women's Basketball Coach of the Year. With a record of 22-1 after winning the North Central District title, the Reivers are off to their first National Tournament since 2017.

Northeast, the Region XI runner-up, placed two players on the First Team All-Region. Both Nebraska natives, forward Ashley Hassett (Hershey) and Taylor Peter (Chambers) represented the Hawks.

Peter led the team and Division in scoring at 15.9 points per game. Peter took a majority of her shots from inside the arc, and shot just over 50% on the year. She was able to do damage from the free throw line as well, ranking seventh in free throws made with 56.

She also averaged 7.9 rebounds per game, top-10 in that category.

Hassett was top-10 in a number of categories as well. She was second in made free throws (86), fifth in free throw percentage (74.1), seventh in points per game (15.0) and ninth in made field goals (97).

Marshalltown received one selection to the First Team in Eva Zaragoza. Zaragoza led the Tigers in scoring (12.7) and was second on the team in rebounding (6.6).

First Team All-Region

#	Player	College	Position	Year
34	Gabriella Smith	Iowa Western	G	So.
1	Hayley Berfield	Iowa Western	G	So.
15	Isnelle Natabou	Iowa Western	C	Fr.
35	Eva Zaragoza	Marshalltown	F	So.
20	Ashley Hassett	Northeast	F	So.
12	Taylor Peter	Northeast	F	Fr.

Honorable Mention All-Region

#	Player	College	Position	Year
5	Arielle McElroy	Iowa Western	G	So.
24	Geassy Germano	Iowa Western	F	So.
33	Nuria Castillo	Marshalltown	G	So.
14	Patricija Peric	Northeast	F	Fr.
23	Breanna Stouffer	Northeast	G	So.

Player of the Year: Gabriella Smith, Iowa Western

Coach of the Year: Lindsey Vande Hoef, Iowa Western