Thomas Earns Second Straight Kodak All-American Honor
May 25, 2016 | Women's Basketball
The 6-2 forward from Greenville, Miss., led the Southeastern Conference in scoring for the second consecutive season. Her 24.3 points per game also ranked fourth nationally. She finished the season ranked third in the conference in rebounding with an 8.8 rebounds per contest.
Last year, Thomas became only the eighth freshman awarded Kodak All-American status. Of the 10 members this season, there are eight seniors and one junior, once again making Thomas the youngest honoree.
"Once again, this is a tremendous honor for Mississippi State and the Lady Bulldog basketball program," said head coach Sharon Fanning. "As individuals are recognized, it's always a reflection of people around them and a team effort that creates the success of the individual to be recognized."
This award comes on the heels of 14 other awards she received this season, including four separate all-America honors. Thomas broke six school records in her initial season in the Maroon and White. She followed that setting eight new MSU standards this season and tying two other records.
Midway through the season, she became the second-fastest player in the SEC to reach the 1,000-point plateau. She finished her sophomore season ranked fourth on MSU's all-time scoring leaders list with 1,424 points in 63 games.
Thomas added another piece of hardware to her already crowded trophy case by winning Women's Power Forward of the Year at the inaugural ESPN The Magazine's College Basketball Awards Show Wednesday night. The event was televised live to a national cable audience on ESPN from Minneapolis, Minn., where the men's Final Four is taking place.
Thomas beat out two other finalists, Swin Cash of Connecticut and Schuye LaRue of Virginia, to win the award. The nominees for the various awards were determined through a vote by the 40-member USA Today/ESPN Board of Coaches. An ESPN and ESPN The Magazine blue-ribbon panel utilized the list of nominees to determine the winners.
"We expect that Toya will continue to improve and that there will be many other honors in store for her as she continues to work hard," said Fanning. "I am very proud of Toya and her success."
Other members of the 2001 Kodak All-American team include: junior Stacey Dales (Oklahoma) and seniors Kelly Miller (Georgia), Tamika Catchings (Tennessee), Marie Ferdinand (LSU), Svetlana Abrosimova (Connecticut), Georgia Schweitzer (Duke), Katie Douglas (Purdue), Jackie Stiles (Southwest Missouri State), and Ruth Riley (Notre Dame).
