Melanie Eileen Thomas (born August 26, 1985 in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

) is an American basketball player who played for the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

Huskies from 2004–2008.

High school

Thomas won many awards during her high school basketball career for Cincinnati’s

Mount Notre Dame High School Mount Notre Dame High School (MND) is a Catholic, college-preparatory high school for young women. The school is affiliated with the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur as a part of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. History In the early 19th century, No ...

. 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, and participated in the 2004 WBCA High School All-America Game.

College

Thomas chose UConn over schools like

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. 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 Renee Danielle Montgomery (born December 2, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player, sports broadcaster and activist who is currently vice president, part-owner, and investor of the Atlanta Dream, and one of three owners of th ...

. 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. In her senior season, Thomas scored her 1,000th career point against the

Virginia Cavaliers The Virginia Cavaliers, also known as ''Wahoos'' or ''Hoos'', are the athletic teams representing the University of Virginia, located in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers compete at the NCAA Division I level ( FBS for football), in the Atlantic C ...

on December 5, 2007, in a 75-45 UConn win. 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 The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

Tar Heels, Thomas was honored with her 1,000th point ball in front of a sold-out crowd at

Gampel Pavilion Harry A. Gampel Pavilion is a 10,167-seat multi-purpose arena in Storrs, Connecticut, United States, on the campus of the University of Connecticut (UConn). The arena opened on January 21, 1990, and is the largest on-campus arena in New England. ...

. 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''. 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

Thomas was hoping to be a second-round pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft, but went undrafted due to an ACL injury. 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. Thomas played for the Waterford Wildcats for one season (2008–09). The

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

of the WNBA added her to their training camp roster in March 2009. During the 2009–10 season she played for

Artego Bydgoszcz KS Basket 25 Bydgoszcz is a Polish professional women's basketball club that was founded in 1913 in the city of Bydgoszcz. Artego Bydgoszcz plays in the Energa Basket Liga Kobiet, the highest competition in Poland and in the EuroCup Women. ...

in the Polish league PLKK.

Coaching

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 Karl Wade Smesko (born October 2, 1970) is the current head coach of the Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) women's basketball team. High school Born in Bath Township, Summit County, Ohio, Smesko played point guard for Revere High School. He w ...

'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

* 2003 — Ohio Girls Basketball Magazine Dream Team selection * 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 * 2006 — Big East Most Improved Player * 2008 — CoSIDA Women's Basketball Academic All-District I First Team

University of Connecticut statistics

Notes

External links

Official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Mel 1985 births Living people American women's basketball players American women writers Basketball players at the 2007 Pan American Games Basketball players from Cincinnati McDonald's High School All-Americans Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in basketball UConn Huskies women's basketball players Shooting guards Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games United States women's national basketball team players