LaToya Thomas

LaToya Thomas
Personal information
Born	July 6, 1981 (age 43); Greenville, Mississippi, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight	165 lb (75 kg)
Career information
High school	Greenville (Greenville, Mississippi)
College	Mississippi State (1999–2003)
WNBA draft	2003: 1st round, 1st overall pick
	Selected by the Cleveland Rockers
Playing career	2003–2008
Position	Forward
Number	32, 21
Career history
2003	Cleveland Rockers
2004–2006	San Antonio Silver Stars
2007	Los Angeles Sparks
2008	Detroit Shock
2008	Minnesota Lynx
Career highlights and awards
	Senior CLASS Award (2003); 4× Kodak All-American (2000–2003); 2x All-American – USBWA (2002, 2003); 2× First-team All-American – AP (2002, 2003); Second-team All-American – AP (2001); SEC Female Athlete of the Year (2003); 2× SEC Player of the Year (2002, 2003); SEC Tournament MVP (2000); 4× First-team All-SEC (2000–2003); USBWA National Freshman of the Year (2000); SEC Freshman of the Year (2000); SEC Newcomer of the Year (2000); SEC All-Freshman Team (2000);
	Stats at Basketball Reference

LaToya Monique Thomas (born July 6, 1981) is an American professional basketball player.

College years

Thomas was a standout four-year starter at Mississippi State University.

Thomas was the eighth freshman in the 25-year history of Kodak All-America honors to earn the award and first Lady Bulldog to be named a Kodak All-American. She went on to become just the sixth player in women's basketball history to be a four-time Kodak All-American. She left her mark in the SEC as well, becoming the first player in the conference to lead the league in scoring all four years of her career. Thomas was a three time-finalist for the Naismith Award and she was also a four-time first team all-SEC and AP all-SEC selection. Thomas was a finalist in 2003 for the Margaret Wade Trophy given each season to the top female college player. Diana Taurasi won the Wade Trophy in 2003.

Thomas is the all-time leading scorer at Mississippi State, for either men or women, with 2,981 career points. She holds the Lady Bulldog records for field goals made, field goals attempted, field goal percentage, free throws made, free throws attempted, free throw percentage, rebounds and blocked shots.^{[clarification needed]}

In addition to her numerous all-America honors, Thomas was named the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award winner, 2003 Mississippi Amateur Athlete of the Year and 2003 SEC Female Athlete of the Year. Upon graduation, she became the first athlete from the state of Mississippi to be taken as a top pick in a professional draft, going No. 1 to the Cleveland Rockers in the 2003 WNBA draft.^[1]^[2]

Mississippi State statistics

Source^[3]

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Year	Team	GP	Points	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1999–00	Mississippi State	32	672	.570	.286	.785	7.9	1.6	1.4	1.0	21.0
2000–01	Mississippi State	31	752	.548	.200	.736	8.5	1.4	1.3	1.1	24.3
2001–02	Mississippi State	31	763	.570	.125	.776	9.9	2.0	1.4	0.6	24.6
2002–03	Mississippi State	31	794	.528	.429	.816	9.1	1.6	1.6	0.8	25.6
Career	125	2,981	.553	.309	.776	8.9	1.6	1.4	0.9	23.8

WNBA career

Thomas was selected by the Cleveland Rockers with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 WNBA draft. During her first WNBA season, she became the Rockers single-season rookie leader in rebounding with 164 and ranked second on the Rockers single-season rookie scoring list with 347 points. She started all three playoff games for the Rockers against Detroit, averaging 13.7 points and 7.7 rebounds in 33.3 minutes per game.

When the Cleveland franchise folded following the season, Thomas was selected No. 3 overall in the 2004 dispersal draft by the San Antonio Silver Stars, for whom she played from 2004 to 2006. She had six 20-plus point games in her first season with the Silver Stars.

On February 6, 2008 Thomas was selected in the expansion draft by the Atlanta Dream. She was later traded to the Detroit Shock along with the eighteenth pick in the 2008 WNBA draft for Ivory Latta. On June 22, 2008 Thomas was traded to the Minnesota Lynx for Eshaya Murphy.

Thomas was eventually released by the Minnesota Lynx and played outside the United States during the early part of 2009. Thomas was not listed on a WNBA roster to open the 2009 season and was also not listed on any team's roster to open the 2010 season.

WNBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
TO	Turnovers per game	FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
Bold	Career best	°	League leader

Regular season


Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2003	Cleveland	32	25	26.6	.463	.000	.789	5.1	1.2	0.9	0.4	1.3	10.8
2004	San Antonio	31	30	31.1	.489	.475	.841	4.5	1.4	0.8	0.4	1.8	14.2
2005	San Antonio	21	12	24.0	.429	.429	.898	3.2	1.0	0.3	0.4	1.6	8.8
2006	San Antonio	19	0	19.4	.452	.000	.763	4.3	1.2	0.7	0.4	1.4	8.3
2007	Los Angeles	27	7	18.0	.443	.421	.826	2.3	1.2	0.3	0.3	1.1	7.7
2008	Detroit	7	0	5.7	.267	.000	.000	0.7	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.3	1.1
2008	Minnesota	13	0	11.3	.500	.714	.444	1.9	0.2	0.2	0.0	1.4	3.6
Career	6 years, 5 teams	150	74	22.4	.460	.397	.811	3.6	1.1	0.6	0.3	1.4	9.3

Playoffs


Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2003	Cleveland	3	3	33.3	.438	.000	.765	7.7	1.3	0.3	1.3	2.0	13.7
Career	1 year, 1 team	3	3	33.3	.438	.000	.765	7.7	1.3	0.3	1.3	2.0	13.7

Other professional experience

2012-14 : playing with Altay Konak (Turkey 2nd League)^[4]
2011-12 : played with Mersin (Turkish Pro League)
2010-11 : played with Raanana Hertzeliya (Israel Pro League) and Burhaniye Belediyesi (Turkish Pro League)
2009-10 : played with Jerusalem (Israel Pro League)
2008-09 : played with Zaragoza (Spanish Pro League)
2006-07 : played with Ensino (Spanish Pro League) and Elitzur Ramla (Israel Pro League)
2006 : played with Montpellier (French Pro League) and Cadi (Spanish Pro League)
2005 : played with Kazan (Russian Pro League)
2004–05: Spent part of the off-season playing in Russia for BC Enge Kazan in the FIBA Europe Cup.
2003–04: Spent the off-season playing in Korea for the Hyundai Hyperion.

Personal

Majored in educational psychology
Earned all-state honors her last three seasons in high school
Named Mississippi's Player of the Year her junior and senior seasons
Earned Parade All-American status her senior season
Also played softball
Named to the honor roll her junior and senior years
Earned a perfect attendance award as well as a good citizenship honor.

References

^ http://www.mstateathletics.com/doc_lib/wbk_0607mg_history.pdf^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "Ranking the top 5 Mississippi State athletes of all time: Who's No. 1?". SEC Country. March 2, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
^ "NCAA® Career Statistics". web1.ncaa.org. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
^ Eurobasket Profile

External links

[1] ttp://www.mstateathletics.com/doc_lib/wbk_0607mg_history.pdf^{[permanent dead link‍]}

[2] "Ranking the top 5 Mississippi State athletes of all time: Who's No. 1?". SEC Country. March 2, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.

[3] "NCAA® Career Statistics". web1.ncaa.org. Retrieved May 22, 2016.

[4] Eurobasket Profile

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]