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Mel Thomas

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Mel Thomas
Mel Thomas
Personal information
Born (1985-08-26) August 26, 1985 (age 39)
Cincinnati, Ohio
NationalityAmerican
Listed height5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Career information
High schoolMount Notre Dame High School,
Cincinnati, Ohio
CollegeUConn (2004–2008)
PositionShooting guard
Number25
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Women's Basketball
Representing  United States
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 2007 Brazil Team Competition

Melanie Eileen Thomas (born August 26, 1985 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American basketball player who played for the University of Connecticut Huskies from 2004–2008.

High school

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Thomas won many awards during her high school basketball career for Cincinnati’s Mount Notre Dame High School. As a junior, she averaged 18.3 points, 5.2 assists and 3.7 rebounds while leading Mount Notre Dame to a 23–3 mark and a regional finals appearance. As a senior, she led the Cougars to a perfect 28-0 record and a Division I Ohio State Championship. She averaged 20.4 points 5.4 assists and 4.0 rebounds, and made several All America teams. Thomas was named a WBCA All-American,[1] and participated in the 2004 WBCA High School All-America Game.

College

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Mel Thomas in Green Bay game

Thomas chose UConn over schools like Duke, Ohio State, and Cincinnati. Thomas struggled during her freshman season. In her sophomore season, she was named the BIG EAST’s Most Improved Player. She started the Huskies' first 28 contests before sitting out the final two games of the regular season with a sprained right ankle, suffered during the Syracuse game on February 2, 2006. The next season (junior) was her breakout season. Thomas started in all 36 games as the Huskies' shooting guard and tallied double-figure points in 16 games, including three 20-plus scoring efforts. She made at least one 3-pointer in 35 of 36 games. In her junior and senior seasons, she co-captained the team with Renee Montgomery. She spent the summer prior to the start of her junior season playing for the USA Pan American Games Team, which became the first U.S. squad to capture the gold medal at the Pan American Games since 1987.[2]

In her senior season, Thomas scored her 1,000th career point against the Virginia Cavaliers on December 5, 2007, in a 75-45 UConn win.[3] Nine games later, her season was cut short due to an ACL injury suffered against Syracuse on January 15, 2008. On January 21, 2008, against the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, Thomas was honored with her 1,000th point ball in front of a sold-out crowd at Gampel Pavilion.[4] While sidelined with the injury during her senior year she wrote in a diary every day, which was later published as a book titled Heart Of A Husky.[5] She finished her UConn career with 1,098 points, and is in the school's Top 5 in total 3pt FG's made with 224.

Pro career

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Thomas was hoping to be a second-round pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft, but went undrafted due to an ACL injury.[6] In October 2008, Thomas made it back to the court to play in her first professional basketball game for the Irish League's Waterford Wildcats, scoring 33 points in her first game.[7] Thomas played for the Waterford Wildcats for one season (2008–09). The Seattle Storm of the WNBA added her to their training camp roster in March 2009.[8] During the 2009–10 season she played for Artego Bydgoszcz in the Polish league PLKK.

Coaching

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Thomas joined the Florida Gulf Coast women's basketball staff as the director of operations in 2010. She was a member of head coach Karl Smesko's staff for four seasons. During that time, the Eagles won four straight Atlantic Sun Regular-Season Championships, including two trips to the NCAA Tournament.

Awards

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  • 2003 — Ohio Girls Basketball Magazine Dream Team selection[9]
  • 2002 — Adidas Top Ten Camp Underclass All-Star
  • 2002 — Street & Smith All-America Honorable Mention
  • 2003 — Street & Smith All-America Honorable Mention.
  • 2003 — USA Today Super 25 choice
  • 2003 — Nike All-American
  • 2004 — McDonald’s All-America Team
  • 2004 — WBCA All-America Team
  • 2004 — Associated Press Ohio Co-Player of the Year
  • 2004 — Cincinnati Metro Player of the Year
  • 2004 — Ohio Ms. Basketball (2004) awarded by Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association[10]
  • 2006 — Big East Most Improved Player[11]
  • 2008 — CoSIDA Women's Basketball Academic All-District I First Team[11]

University of Connecticut statistics

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Mel Thomas Statistics[12][failed verification] at University of Connecticut
Year G FG FGA PCT 3FG 3FGA PCT FT FTA PCT REB AVG A TO B S MIN PTS AVG
2004-05 29 54 136 0.397 26 84 0.310 28 42 0.667 56 1.9 54 31 4 20 526 162 5.6
2005-06 35 135 276 0.489 76 177 0.429 46 59 0.780 83 2.4 66 40 6 53 1043 392 11.2
2006-07 36 120 291 0.412 87 205 0.424 51 56 0.911 97 2.7 63 29 4 24 1146 378 10.5
2007-08 16 57 134 0.425 35 89 0.393 17 17 1.000 47 2.9 44 16 0 15 457 166 10.4
Totals 116 366 837 0.437 224 555 0.404 142 174 0.816 283 2.4 227 116 14 112 3172 1098 9.5

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ "WBCA High School All-America Game Box Scores". Women's Basketball Coaches Association. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  2. ^ "Fifteenth Pan American Games -- 2007". USA Basketball. November 19, 2010. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  3. ^ "No. 2/2 Womens Basketball Moves To 7-0 With 75-45 Win Over Virginia". UConn Huskies. December 5, 2007. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  4. ^ "Thomas Contributes Despite Injury, Honored Before Game". The Daily Campus. January 22, 2008. Archived from the original on August 9, 2011. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  5. ^ Thomas, Mel (2008). Heart of a Husky: Determination, Perseverance, and a Quest for a National Championship (1 ed.). Keen Custom Media. ISBN 978-0-9647-0833-4.
  6. ^ Stout, Matt. "WNBA: Drafting locals not a priority". Norwich Bulletin. Retrieved October 5, 2012.[permanent dead link‍]
  7. ^ "Mel Thomas Scores 36 in Her First Professional Game". Sox & Dawgs.[permanent dead link‍]
  8. ^ "Storm Adds Terry and Thomas to Training Camp Roster". Seattle Storm. March 19, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  9. ^ "Groeschen: Prep insider". Cincinnati Enquirer. March 30, 2003. Archived from the original on February 16, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  10. ^ "OHSBC MS. BASKETBALL". OHSBC. Archived from the original on February 7, 2009. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  11. ^ a b "Mel Thomas Named To CoSIDA Women's Basketball Academic All-District I First Team". UConn Huskies. February 7, 2008. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  12. ^ "Media Guide" (PDF). UConn Huskies. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 12, 2016. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
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