City of Basketball Love

By David Comer
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The local Division III season was another memorable one. 

There were dominant players and memorable teams, with Immaculata earning a trip to the NCAA tournament. An amazing career came to an end for an Ursinus player — one that proves that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Arcadia coach Jackie Hartzell turned the program into a winner in just three seasons, but that success helped her earn a Division I head coaching job at Rider. 

Without further ado, here are the CoBL-area Division III women’s basketball awards for this season:

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(Ed. Note: in the past, the CoBL Division III coverage area extended all the way up into the Lehigh Valley and out to Harrisburg. This season, we focused more on just the teams contained within the five counties CoBL traditionally covers. Due to some programs closing, we will re-evaluate this for next year.)

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Player of the Year

Chinwe Irondi (Sr. | Ursinus)
Irondi arrived at Ursinus as an unrecruited freshman and will leave Ursinus as one of the best players in school history.

The 6-foot forward from Waldorf, Md., was named Player of the Year in the Centennial Conference after leading the league in scoring (20.2 ppg), rebounding (10.0 rpg) and field goal percentage (60.9%). Irondi is one of only three players to ever earn first-team All-Centennial Conference honors four times; she is also one of only three players in Centennial Conference history to win both Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year honors.

Irondi also received All-American honorable mention honors from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, becoming the first player in the program to receive All-American recognition since all-time leading scorer Ellen Cosgrove in 1995. She will graduate with the second-most points (1,818) and second most rebounds (1,015) in program history - not bad for someone who wasn’t recruited to play basketball at the school where she put together a legendary career.

All-Area First Team
Delaney Bell (Jr. | Arcadia)
Arcadia has enjoyed its best two-year stretch ever (39-14), and Bell’s been right at the middle of all of it. The 5-foot-8 wing from Bensalem, who became the first MAC Freedom Player of the Year in program history, averaged better than 15 points per contest (15.4 ppg) for the second straight year. The third-year starter also continued to put up massive rebounding numbers for her size/position (8.1 rpg), as she has 709 career rebounds in just 80 games. Bell surpassed the 20-point mark six times and collected eight double-doubles. She will be all over the Arcadia career leaderboards with one more similar season.

Emily DuPont (Sr. | Neumann)
The 5-foot-9 forward from Great Valley was stellar both offensively and defensively for Neumann, earning Atlantic East Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors while averaging 16.4 ppg and 6.8 rpg. She helped lead an injury-plagued squad to a 16-10 record and the championship game of the AEC tournament while being named first-team All-AEC. DuPont, despite only playing 20 total games during her first two seasons at Neumann, scored 938 career points. 

Reese Mullins (Sr. | Immaculata)
Mullins played a key role in leading Immaculata to the AEC championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament. The 5-foot-10 guard/forward from Hockessin, Del., averaged 15.1 ppg and 7.4 rpg and was named the AEC Player of the Year for her efforts. Mullins finished her career with 1,195 career points and was a model of consistency, averaging double figures in scoring as a sophomore, junior and senior. Mullins also led the AEC in blocks with 46 and was second in the league with 69.

Hanna Rhodes (Sr. | Arcadia)
A 5-5 junior from Abington Friends, Rhoades was Arcadia's leading scorer (17.4 ppg) as she was an absolute gunner, taking 256 3-pointers -- just shy of 10 per game! -- and hitting them at a 35.5% clip, which put her third in all of Division III hoops in 3-pointers made (91); and she still found time to get another couple buckets each game from inside the arc, too. The ninth player in program history to surpass the 1,000-point scorer, she was also the leading scorer in the MAC Freedom this year and an a first-team all-league selection.

Mia Robbins (Jr. | Widener)
The 5-foot-11 post player from Voorhees, N.J., has been a force for Widner since she first stepped foot on campus. Robbins has averaged exactly 8.4 rpg in each of her first three seasons, while her scoring average has increased each year from 12.4 to 14.6 to 18.0 ppg. She surpassed the 1,000-points this season and will enter her senior year with 1,120 career points. Robbins was named first-team All-MAC Commonwealth in leading Widener to an 18-9 and the MAC Commonwealth championship game.

Zhymani Smith (Sr. | Bryn Athyn)
The 5-foot-6 senior guard from Hampton, Va., spent a season at Division I Florida A&M — all the way back in 2017-18 — before ending up at Bryn Athyn. She earned first-team All-UEC honors for the second straight year. This season, Smith stuffed the stat sheet once again with 17.9 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 4.2 apg and 2.9 spg. She finished her Bryn Athyn career with 920 points in only two seasons.

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All-Area Second Team
Carly Coleman (Fr. | Immaculata)
The standout from Cardinal O’Hara, where she won three PIAA championships and one Philadelphia Catholic League title, was a key member of an Immaculata team that won the AEC title and played in the NCAA tournament. The 5-foot-10 freshman was named the AEC Rookie of the Year after averaging 10.4 ppg and 8.8 rpg. She played her best at the end of the season, scoring in double figures in eight of her team’s final nine games, including a team-high 10 points in a loss in the NCAA tournament to Ohio Wesleyan.

Amirah Hackney (Soph. | Penn State-Abington)
The 5-foot-9 guard/forward from Philadelphia, who played at Neumann-Goretti, earned first-team All-United East Conference honors after averaging 13.6 ppg and 7.4 rpg. Hackney, who earned second-team All-UEC honors last season, also established career highs in blocks with 28 and steals with 66. She will enter her junior year with 773 career points and likely will reach 1,000 next season.

Jeriyah Johnson (Jr. | Eastern)
Johnson earned All-MAC Commonwealth first-team honors after averaging 16.8 ppg overall; in league play, the 5-foot-5 guard from Lancaster scored a league-best 19.6 ppg. She was the first Eastern player to earn first-team all-league recognition since the 2018-19 season. Johnson, the only player on her team to average double figures in scoring, was often the focus for opposing defenses. Johnson scored her 1,000th career point during the season and will enter her senior year with 1,028. 

Tessa Liberatoscioli (Gr. | Immaculata)
Liberatoscioli has proven that crime does pay. She was named the AEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year this season after being named the AEC Defensive Player of the Year last season when she set a school and AEC single-season record with 103 steals. The 5-foot-8 guard/forward and Great Valley grad, who was also a second-team All-AEC selection, led the AEC in steals with 3.6 spg. She also contributed offensively, scoring 9.8 ppg and reaching double figures 14 times. 

Jessica Smith (Sr. | Bryn Mawr)
Smith did it all this season for Bryn Mawr, leading her team in scoring (15.7 ppg), rebounding (7.6 rpg), assists (1.8 apg) and steals (2.2 spg). The 5-foot-7 guard from Turlock, Calif., who was named second-team All-Centennial Conference, scored 1,125 career points in only 74 games for an average of 15.2 ppg. Smith earned MVP honors after leading Bryn Mawr to the Gryphon Invitational championship to start the season where she averaged 24.5 points and 10 rebounds per game in two victories.

Madison Smith (Jr. | Ursinus)
The 5-foot-9 forward from Philadelphia, who played at Friends Central, was an excellent second option for Ursinus. Smith averaged 11.9 ppg and 6.2 rpg and scored in double figures in 20 of 25 games. An honorable mention All-Centennial Conference selection, Smith will enter her senior season with 643 career points and a chance to reach 1,000. Her scoring average, field goal percentage and three-point percentage have increased each year at Ursinus.

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Honorable Mention
Dominique Barnes (Sr. | Valley Forge), Abigail Boyer (Sr. | Immaculata), Alayna Day (Sr. | Bryn Athyn), Sierra Diawara (Sr. | Penn State-Brandywine), Scarlet Glasser-Nehls (Gr. | Arcadia), Saniya Green (Fr. | Valley Forge), Halley Keenan (Gr. | DelVal), Lauren Kleiber (Sr. | Neumann), Lindsay Kutz (Jr. | Widener), Nia Newman (Jr. | Penn State-Abington), Carolina Orza (Jr. | Haverford), Ava Possenti (Jr. | Ursinus), Amina Reid (Soph. | Penn State-Abington)

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Freshman of the Year

Carly Coleman (Fr. | Immaculata)
Being a standout in one sport in college is impressive. Being a standout in two sports in college is even more impressive. And doing so as a freshman is even that much more impressive. Coleman was a force on the basketball court, where she earned AEC Rookie of the Year, just after she started 16 of 19 games for the Immaculata soccer team and finished with four goals and one assist and was third on the team with nine points.

Honorable Mention
Saniya Green (Fr. | Valley Forge)

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Coach of the Year
Brittany Whalen (Immaculata)
In just her second season as head coach, Whalen led the Mighty Macs to a 22-4 record, regular-season and postseason AEC championships and a berth in the NCAA tournament. 

Whalen’s squad went 10-0 during the AEC regular season and 14-0 at home in recording Immaculata’s first 20-win season since 1976.  She and her staff were named AEC Coaching Staff of the Year in the AEC for their efforts.

Whalen, a 2015 Immaculata graduate who was a standout basketball and softball player as an undergraduate, has a career record of 37-15 in her two seasons in charge at her alma mater. 

Honorable Mention
Jackie Hartzell (Arcadia)
Travis Ponton (Bryn Athyn)
Tiara White (Penn State-Abington)