American basketball player
LaToya Monique Thomas
(born July 6, 1981) is a professional basketball player.
College years
[
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]
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
[
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]
Source
[3]
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
[
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]
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
[
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]
Regular season
[
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]
Year
|
Team
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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
[
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]
Year
|
Team
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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
[
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]
- 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 Elizur 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
[
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]
See also
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]
References
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]
External links
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Links to related articles
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