View source for LaToya Thomas

{{Short description|American basketball player (born 1981)}}
{{For|the person falsely convicted of murder|Autopsy (TV series)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2011}}
{{Infobox basketball biography
| name = LaToya Thomas
| image =
| number = 32, 21
| team =
| league = 
| position = [[Forward (basketball)|Forward]]
| height_ft = 6 | height_in = 2
| weight_lbs = 165
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1981|7|6}}
| birth_place = [[Greenville, Mississippi]], U.S.
| high_school = [[Greenville Weston High School|Greenville]] (Greenville, Mississippi)
| college = [[Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs basketball|Mississippi State]] (1999–2003)
| draft_league = WNBA
| draft_year = 2003
| draft_round = 1
| draft_pick = 1
| draft_team = [[Cleveland Rockers]]
| career_start = 2003
| career_end = 2008
| years1 = 2003
| team1 = [[Cleveland Rockers]]
| years2 = 2004–2006
| team2 = [[San Antonio Silver Stars]]
| years3 = 2007
| team3 = [[Los Angeles Sparks]]
| years4 = 2008
| team4 = [[Detroit Shock]]
| years5 = 2008
| team5 = [[Minnesota Lynx]]
| bbr_wnba     = thomala01w
| letter       = t
| highlights = 
* [[List of Senior CLASS Award women's basketball winners|Senior CLASS Award]] (2003)
* 4× [[Women's Basketball Coaches Association|Kodak]] All-American (2000–2003)
* 2x All-American – [[United States Basketball Writers Association|USBWA]] (2002, 2003)
* 2× First-team All-American – [[Associated Press|AP]] (2002, 2003)
* Second-team All-American – AP (2001)
* [[SEC Female Athlete of the Year]] (2003)
* 2× [[Southeastern Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year|SEC Player of the Year]] (2002, 2003)
* [[SEC women's basketball tournament|SEC Tournament MVP]] (2000)
* 4× First-team All-[[Southeastern Conference|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)
}}
'''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 [[Mississippi State Bulldogs|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 [[Southeastern Conference|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 College Player of the Year|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.{{Clarify|what is the difference between a field goal and a free throw|date=September 2019}}

In addition to her numerous all-America honors, Thomas was named the [[Lowe's Senior CLASS Award]] winner, 2003 Mississippi [[Amateur]] [[sportsperson|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 [[Draft (sports)|professional draft]], going No. 1 to the Cleveland Rockers in the 2003 [[WNBA draft]].<ref>http://www.mstateathletics.com/doc_lib/wbk_0607mg_history.pdf{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.seccountry.com/mississippi-state/mississippi-state-athletes|title=Ranking the top 5 Mississippi State athletes of all time: Who's No. 1?|date=2017-03-02|work=SEC Country|access-date=2017-08-30|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Mississippi  State statistics==
Source<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/careersearch|title=NCAA® Career Statistics|website=web1.ncaa.org|access-date=2016-05-22}}</ref>{{NBA player statistics legend}}
{| class="wikitable"; style="text-align:center";
!Year
!Team
!GP
!Points
!FG%
!3P%
!FT%
!RPG
!APG
!SPG
!BPG
!PPG
|-
|1999–00
|[[Mississippi State Bulldogs women's basketball|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'''
|-
|colspan=2; align=center|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.&nbsp;1 overall pick in the [[2003 WNBA draft]]. During her first WNBA season, she became the Rockers single-season [[rookie]] leader in [[Rebound (basketball)|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.&nbsp;3 overall in the [[2004 WNBA dispersal draft|2004 dispersal draft]] by the [[San Antonio Silver Stars]], for whom she played from 2004 to 2006.<ref>{{cite web |title=2004 WNBA Dispersal Draft Recap |url=https://www.wnba.com/archive/wnba/features/dispersalrecap_040506.html |website=WNBA |date=|access-date=May 24, 2025}}</ref> 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==
{{WNBA player statistics legend}}

===Regular season===
{{WNBA player statistics start}}
|-
| align="left" | [[2003 WNBA season|2003]]
| align="left" | [[2003 Cleveland Rockers season|Cleveland]]
| '''32''' || '''25''' || 26.6 || .463 || .000 || .789 || '''5.1''' || 1.2 || '''0.9''' || '''0.4''' || 1.3 || 10.8
|-
| align="left" | [[2004 WNBA season|2004]]
| align="left" | [[2004 San Antonio Silver Stars season|San Antonio]]
| 31 || 30 || '''31.1''' || .489 || .475 || .841 || 4.5 || '''1.4''' || 0.8 || '''0.4''' || 1.8 || '''14.2'''
|-
| align="left" | [[2005 WNBA season|2005]]
| align="left" | [[2005 San Antonio Silver Stars season|San Antonio]]
| 21 || 12 || 24.0 || .429 || .429 || '''.898''' || 3.2 || 1.0 || 0.3 || '''0.4''' || 1.6 || 8.8
|-
| align="left" | [[2006 WNBA season|2006]]
| align="left" | [[2006 San Antonio Silver Stars season|San Antonio]]
| 19 || 0 || 19.4 || .452 || .000 || .763 || 4.3 || 1.2 || 0.7 || '''0.4''' || 1.4 || 8.3
|-
| align="left" | [[2007 WNBA season|2007]]
| align="left" | [[2007 Los Angeles Sparks season|Los Angeles]]
| 27 || 7 || 18.0 || .443 || .421 || .826 || 2.3 || 1.2 || 0.3 || 0.3 || 1.1 || 7.7
|-
| align="left" | [[2008 WNBA season|2008]]
| align="left" | [[2008 Detroit Shock season|Detroit]]
| 7 || 0 || 5.7 || .267 || .000 || .000 || 0.7 || 0.1 || 0.1 || 0.1 || 0.3 || 1.1
|-
| align="left" | [[2008 WNBA season|2008]]
| align="left" | [[2008 Minnesota Lynx season|Minnesota]]
| 13 || 0 || 11.3 || '''.500''' || '''.714''' || .444 || 1.9 || 0.2 || 0.2 || 0.0 || 1.4 || 3.6
|-
| align="left" | Career
| align="left" | 6 years, 5 teams
| 150 || 74 || 22.4 || .460 || .397 || .811 || 3.6 || 1.1 || 0.6 || 0.3 || 1.4 || 9.3
{{S-end}}

===Playoffs===
{{WNBA player statistics start}}
|-
| align="left" | [[2003 WNBA Playoffs|2003]]
| align="left" | [[2003 Cleveland Rockers season|Cleveland]]
| 3 || 3 || 33.3 || .438 || .000 || .765 || 7.7 || 1.3 || 0.3 || 1.3 || 2.0 || 13.7
|-
| align="left" | Career
| align="left" | 1 year, 1 team
| 3 || 3 || 33.3 || .438 || .000 || .765 || 7.7 || 1.3 || 0.3 || 1.3 || 2.0 || 13.7
{{S-end}}

==Other professional experience==
*2012-14 : playing with Altay Konak ([[Turkey]] 2nd League)<ref>[http://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/LaToya_Thomas/Turkey/Altay_Konak_Belediyespor/79426?Women=1 Eurobasket Profile]</ref>
*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]] ([[Israeli Female Basketball Premier League|Israel Pro League]]) 
*2008-09 : played with Zaragoza (Spanish Pro League)
*2006-07 : played with Ensino ([[Spain|Spanish]] Pro League) and [[Elitzur Ramla (women's basketball)|Elitzur Ramla]] ([[Israeli Female Basketball Premier League|Israel Pro League]]) 
*2006 : played with Montpellier ([[France|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 [[Eurobasket Women|FIBA Europe Cup]].
*2003–04: Spent the off-season playing in [[Korea]] for the Hyundai Hyperion.

==Personal==
* [[Academic major|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 [https://web.archive.org/web/20070524202850/http://all-americans.parade.com/2006_girl_basketball/wnba_players.html Parade All-American] status her [[student|senior]] season
* Also played [[softball]]
* Named to the honor roll her [[student|junior and senior]] years
* Earned a perfect attendance award as well as a good citizenship honor.

== See also ==
* List of NCAA Division I women's basketball players with 2,500 points and 1,000 rebounds
* [[List of NCAA Division I women's basketball career scoring leaders]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.wnba.com/draft2003/prospect_latoya_thomas.html 2003 WNBA Draft Prospectus]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070524202850/http://all-americans.parade.com/2006_girl_basketball/wnba_players.html Parade All-Americans in The WNBA]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090614080546/http://www.wnba.com/dream/expansion_analysis_080206.html Atlanta Dream expansion draft results/analysis]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130530185116/http://www.freeplayers.com/women/latoyathomas.html Latoya Thomas at Freeplayers.com]
* [http://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/LaToya_Thomas/Altay_Konak_Belediyespor/79426#Player%20Stats Latoya Thomas Profile]

{{navboxes|list=
{{USBWA National Freshman of the Year}}
{{Senior CLASS Award - Women's Basketball}}
{{Southeastern Conference Athlete of the Year navbox}}
{{Southeastern Conference Women's Basketball Player of the Year navbox}}
{{WNBA First Overall Picks}}
{{2003 WNBA draft}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Latoya}}
[[Category:1981 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:All-American college women's basketball players]]
[[Category:American expatriate basketball people in France]]
[[Category:American expatriate basketball people in Israel]]
[[Category:American expatriate basketball people in Russia]]
[[Category:American expatriate basketball people in South Korea]]
[[Category:American expatriate basketball people in Spain]]
[[Category:American expatriate basketball people in Turkey]]
[[Category:American women's basketball players]]
[[Category:Basketball players from Mississippi]]
[[Category:Cleveland Rockers players]]
[[Category:Detroit Shock players]]
[[Category:Los Angeles Sparks players]]
[[Category:Minnesota Lynx players]]
[[Category:Mississippi State Bulldogs women's basketball players]]
[[Category:San Antonio Stars players]]
[[Category:Small forwards]]
[[Category:First overall WNBA draft picks]]
[[Category:Southeastern Conference Athlete of the Year winners]]
[[Category:Atlanta Dream draft picks]]