2024 Hercules Tires MAAC Basketball Championships Digital Program

2023–24 IONA MEN’S & WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

PLAYER TO WATCH Graduate student Natalia Otkhmezuri has stepped into a primary role for the Iona University women’s basketball team this season. In 2022-23, her first season with the Gaels she was the sixth player off the bench for appearing in all 33 games for the team that captured the MAAC regular season and tournament championships. This season Otkhmezuri has been a key contributor for the Maroon & Gold offense, ranking among the team leaders in scoring and field goal percentage. She has posted multiple double-digit scoring efforts and ranks in the top 15 of league scorers. Otkhmezuri registered a career-high 38 points against Marist back on January 6, 2024. Her scoring output was the fourth-highest single game mark in program history and ranks at the top of the league scorers this season. NOTABLE ALUMNI Juana Camilion ’23 left her mark as one of the greatest players in the Iona University women’s basketball history. In her final season last year, she captained Iona to its second ever MAAC regular season and tournament championships while earning MAAC Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Most Outstanding Performer at the tournament. She garnered five All-MAAC honors in her tenure and finished her career with 1,614 points, ranking fifth all-time in program history. Her 278 career steals are a program record, and her 433 assists ranks sixth all-time. She was a four-time MAAC All-Academic Team selection. Camilion has embarked on her professional career in her native Spain. She plays in Madrid for Estudiantes as part of Liga Femenina Endesa, the top league in Spain and has contributed to a playoff contending club in her first season.

MEN’S ROSTER

WOMEN’S ROSTER No. Name Cl.

QUICK FACTS LOCATION NEW ROCHELLE, NY NICKNAME GAELS COLORS MAROON & GOLD YEAR FOUNDED 1940 PRESIDENT SEAMUS CAREY, PH.D. ATHLETIC DIRECTOR MATTHEW GLOVASKI HOME ARENA HYNES CENTER (2,578)

No.

Name

Cl. So. Gr. Fr. Fr. Gr. Gr. Gr. Fr. Fr. Fr. Fr. Gr.

Pos.

Ht.

Wt.

Hometown/High School/Previous School Picayune, MS/Picayune/SW Mississippi CC

Pos.

Ht.

Hometown/High School/Previous School

0 1 3 4 5 7

Isaac Brice

F

6-6 205

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Natalia Otkhmezuri

Gr.

G 5-8 Tbilisi, Rep. of Georgia/Casper College/Southern Utah

Talia DePetrillo

Jr.

G 5-6 Dallas, TX/Bishop Lynch/UC Colorado Springs

Wheza Panzo

G/F 6-7 205 G 5-11 160 G 6-3 190 G 6-2 190 G 6-4 200

Mississauga, Ontario/Hamilton Heights Acad. (TN)/Stetson

Taliya Heron

Fr.

F

6-0 Ajax, Ontario/Bond Academy

Jeremiah Quigley

Accokeek, MD/Bishop McNamara

Ale Civera

So. So.

G 5-10 Madrid, Spain/IES Ortega y Gasset

Jean Aranguren

Valencia, Venezuela/Springfield Commonwealth Acad. (MA)

Petra Oborilova Judith Gomez Addy Salzer Ella Fajardo Daniela Ciscar Mya Zaccagnini Amaya B. Evans Emma Donnelly

F

6-2 Banská Bystrica, Slovakia/Stredná Športová Škola

Joel Brown

Brampton, Ontario/Brewster Acad. (NH)/California

Jr. Jr. Jr. Fr. Fr.

G 5-9 Barcelona, Spain/IES Francesc Macià

Idan Tretout

Brooklyn, NY/Wilbraham & Monson Acad. (MA)/Harvard

G 5-11 Saint Bonifacius, MN/Waconia

10 11 13 20 23 55

Terrell Williams Jr.

F F

6-6 215 6-7 225

Dallas, TX/Mansfield/Southern Univ.

10 11 14 21 22 30 35

G 5-4 Bergenfield, NJ/Gill St. Bernard's/FDU

Sultan Adewale

East London, England/Neumann Goretti (PA)

G 6-1 Valencia, Spain/IES Lluis Simarro Lacabra

Alex Bates IV

G 6-5 190 G 5-10 155

Charlotte, NC/United Faith Christian Acad.

G 5-7 Waterbury, CT/Holy Cross

Rohan Chappali Dylan Saunders

Ashburn, VA/Independence

So.

G 5-4 Neptune, NJ/Neptune

F F

6-8 210 7-0 210

Roanoke, VA/Cave Spring

Fr. Fr.

F F

6-1 Sydney, Australia/Rosebank College

Osborn Shema

Kanombe, Rwanda/New Mexico Military Inst.

Zoey Ward Noa Givon

6-0 Gastonia, NC/Concord Academy

Head Coach: Tobin Anderson (Wesleyan '95, Florida State '96MA) – First Season Assistant Coaches: Tom Bonacum (Ramapo '18), Kam Murrell (St. Thomas Aquinas '19), Patrick Wallace (Charleston Southern '17) Director of Operations: Ray Savage (Staten Island '19) Director of Player Development: Kyle Washington (Cincinnati '18) Video Coordinator: Luke Testani (Michigan '20) Graduate Managers: Parker Weiss (Iona '23), Pat Buckley (Catholic '23)

So.

G 5-10 Raanana, Israel/Ostrovski

PLAYER TO WATCH Two-time MAAC Champion Osborn Shema is the lone returner for the 2023 tournament winners in the 2023-24 campaign. After missing the first 10 games of the season, Shema helped stabilize the Gael lineup from late December. Playing in his fourth season in Maroon & Gold, he was a preseason All-MAAC First Team selection prior to this season. After coming off the bench in his first two years, Shema has been a staple in the Gaels’ starting lineup since his junior campaign. He will have appeared in more than 90 games and scored more than 500 points by the 2024 MAAC tournament. He is a three-time MAAC All-Academic selection earning his undergraduate degree in Management while studying for his MBA in Iona University’s LaPenta School of Business. NOTABLE ALUMNI One of the finest all-around players to ever wear the Iona uniform, Jeff Ruland was instrumental in putting the Gaels' basketball program on the national map. In his three seasons at Iona, Ruland was a dominant force, bursting onto the scene to lead the Gaels and the nation's freshmen in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage. The dominance continued as the 6-10 center led the Maroon & Gold to a three-year record of 69-21 (.767) and the Gaels' first two NCAA Tournament appearances. The two-time All-America (1979 and 1980) went on to be a second-round selection (25th overall) in the 1981 NBA draft.

41

Sierra DeAngelo

Gr.

F

6-0 Pittsburgh, PA/Oakland Catholic/FDU

43

Ally Carman

So.

C 6-5 Barnegat, NJ/Red Bank Catholic/Boston College

Head Coach: Angelika Szumilo (LIU Brooklyn '03) – First Season Associate Head Coach: LaTanya Collins (Virginia State '00) Assistant Coaches: Stephen Perretta (Villanova '21), Christian Mordi (William Patterson '12)

Athletic Trainer: Brittany Iaiennaro (Springfield '17) Strength Coach: Richard Irving (East Stroudsburg '15) Athletic Communications: Brian Beyrer (Iona '01)

Director of Operations: Morgan Rachu (Iona '20) Video Coordinator: Breyenne Bellerand (Hartford '21) Graduate Manager: Omorede Rainey (Iona '22) Athletic Trainer: Jada Grant (UConn '21) Strength Coach: Jake Eglintine (Springfield '18) Athletic Communications: Brian Duane (York '15)

HEAD COACH TOBIN ANDERSON Tobin Anderson is in his first season as head coach of the Iona University men's basketball program. He was appointed to the position on March 21, 2023. Anderson comes to New Rochelle after serving as head coach at FDU where he led the No. 16 Knights to the NCAA Tournament's second round after a stunning upset over No. 1 Purdue. Anderson led the FDU squad to a 21-16 overall record, earned the NEC's automatic bid and earned two wins in the NCAA Tournament, a First Four win over Texas Southern and the first-round win over the Boilermakers. Prior to FDU, Anderson had a highly successful head coaching stints at Division II St. Thomas Aquinas and Division III Hamilton and Clarkson. In between Hamilton and STAC, Anderson served as an assistant at Siena for two seasons from 2011–2013. Anderson graduated from Wesleyan in 1995 where he was a four-year starter, two-year captain, and is one of the top 10 leading scorers in school history. Anderson earned his master's degree from Florida State in 1996. He is originally a native of Truro, Iowa.

HEAD COACH ANGELIKA SZUMILO Angelika Szumilo was named the eighth head coach of the Iona University women’s basketball program on April 17, 2023, after a successful four-year tenure as the head coach of Fairleigh Dickinson. In her last two years at FDU, Szumilo captured back-to-back Northeast Conference regular season championships and Coach of the Year honors along with two trips to the WNIT. Her 2021-22 team recorded 19 conference victories to capture the first league title for the program since 1992-93. In 2022-23, FDU captured back-to-back league championships for the first time in program history and posted a program record 22 regular season wins. Szumilo joined the Knights after a nine-year tenure as the Associate Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator at Fordham, helping guide the Rams to seven 20-win seasons, two Atlantic 10 Championships and NCAA berths along with four trips to the WNIT. She also served as an assistant coach at Monmouth and her alma mater, LIU. Szumilo, a standout point guard for the Blackbirds, led the team to the 2001 NEC title and was named Scholar Athlete of the Year before graduating in 2003.

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2024 | HERCULES TIRES MAAC MEN’S & WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 45