Last season, the University of Georgia women’s basketball team showed up at the Humphrey Coliseum one hour before they were to take on the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs of Georgia did not bother to warm up for a game that should have been, in their minds, an easy contest on their way through the SEC schedule. MSU’s All-American forward Latoya Thomas saw Georgia’s nonchalant attitude and took it upon herself to prove to the opposing Bulldogs their mistake. That night, everything that Georgia used to stop Thomas blew up in their faces. She posted 43 points in leading MSU to an upset win over the No. 8 Georgia Bulldogs.
Over her three seasons for the Bulldogs, no opposing team’s game plan has been able to hold Thomas under 10 points, but many found a way to stop the Bulldogs. With the arrival of Tan White to the Bulldog roster last season, the Bulldogs had an added threat to completely destroy opposing teams.
“Having her (White) out there takes a lot of pressure off of me,” said three-time Kodak All-American Thomas. “They have to respect her, because if they don’t she is going to burn them.”
While both Thomas and White play for the same overall goal, an MSU championship, their styles are as different as the towns in which they grew up.
Thomas, a native of Greenville in the Mississippi Delta, grew up playing basketball at the neighborhood basketball goal, where she learned her all out, hard-nosed basketball. While Thomas has shown great range shooting her jumper, her main scoring threat comes in the paint.
White, a native of Tupelo, credits her action-packed, highlight-reel style of play to many long days and nights on her backyard court. A long-range three, a quick behind the back pass or a crossover move leading to a lay-up are common occurrences for the 5-foot-8-inch White.
“I think both of us played other sports while we were growing up, but we both really focused on basketball,” said White, last season’s SEC newcomer of the year. “We complement each other in the way we play, but we both learned to play the same way, just outside playing with all the guys.”
The MSU duo has only one year of experience playing on the same team, but already seem to know each other’s every move. Their moves almost seem choreographed, but neither claims to know what the other is going to say on the court.
“There is no way that I talk more trash than she does,” Thomas said of White. “The night we played Tennessee here last season, she did not shut up the entire time. Every time something happened she was there talking. I am a quiet player; she does the trash talking.”
While on the Humphrey Coliseum floor over the past three seasons, Thomas has earned more than her share of honors and awards. But no matter how many awards she earns on the basketball court, the biggest moment of her college life will come in early May. Thomas will receive her degree in educational psychology and become the first member of her family to receive a college degree.
“I am so proud of Toya (Thomas) for earning her degree and graduating in four years,” MSU head coach Sharon Fanning said. “The fact that she finished it in four years shows how hard she worked. She is definitely a leader on and off the court for our basketball team. She has overcome many different things, and she hasn’t let any of them stop her.”
Thomas and White have shown the ability to carry the Bulldogs, but they will rely on the help of many new, or relatively new, faces this season to get to their first goal of an SEC Championship. The goals, however, have been set high for the final tour of possibly MSU’s all-time best player.
The goals and expectations for the team this season will drive the duo all season, but their expectations for the fans might be the highest of all.
“I want to fill The Hump for a game this season,” said Thomas, a senior. “I have never seen that. That can show how much all of these fans think of us. And I can promise that I will do something big in a game if they will come, but if they aren’t there, they won’t see it.”
Thomas, who can dunk a tennis ball with regularity, claims she will become just the second woman player to dunk in a college game. Even if she does not, coach Fanning believes the fans owe their support to Thomas and White.
“‘Toya (Thomas) was the first real star to stay in Mississippi and play basketball, and she helped to keep Tan (White) here,” Fanning said. “What they have done, and will do, has built this program. If the fans don’t come out and watch, they will miss one of the best basketball players ever. That is one way the fans can show how much they appreciate what Toya has done for MSU. She has started something big here.