| Sharon Thompson - Head Women's Basketball Coach |
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.jpg "Image") A veteran member of the East Mississippi Community College coaching family, Sharon Thompson begins her eighth season as head coach of the EMCC women’s basketball team and 12th season overall with the Lady Lions hoops program.Having succeeded Dale Peay in 2005 following a previous four-year stint as the Lady Lions’ assistant basketball coach, Thompson has guided the EMCC women to a pair of MACJC North Division regular-season titles over the past four seasons. Dating back to EMCC’s record-setting 2008-09 campaign, the Lady Lions have put together composite four-year records of 62-46 (.574) overall and 32-16 (.667) in league play. With her teams’ recent success, Thompson’s career head coaching mark now stands at 85-89 heading into the 2012-13 hoops campaign. Two years ago, the Lady Lions posted a second straight 15-win season (15-10) , including a division-best 9-3 league mark, en route to advancing to the regional semifinals for the third consecutive year. The year prior in perhaps one of her best coaching efforts to date, Thompson directed a freshman-laden EMCC club to a 15-13 overall record in 2009-10. Thompson’s 2008-09 Lady Lion squad went 25-7 overall and 11-1 in MACJC North Division play to claim the regular-season divisional crown. In guiding EMCC to the school’s first NJCAA Tournament appearance since 1978 by winning the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament title, Thompson garnered 2008-09 MACJC State and NJCAA District O Coach of the Year honors. She capped her successful campaign by participating as a court coach during the 2009 USA Basketball National Team Trials in Colorado Springs, Colo. Off the court, each of Thompson’s last three EMCC Lady Lion squads have garnered NJCAA All-Academic Team recognition for having composite team grade point averages of 3.0 or higher. A native of nearby Geiger, Ala., and a former two-time all-state player at Sumter County High School in York, Ala., Thompson has served as an elected member of the Sumter County Board of Education since 2004. On the heels of a standout playing career at Mississippi State University, Thompson was the No. 6 pick overall in the 1998 American Basketball League Draft. She played the 1998-99 season with the ABL’s San Jose Lasers in California and spent 1999-2000 playing professionally in Italy. Highlighted by her 2005 selection into the SEC Greats Program for her playing contributions at the collegiate level at MSU, Thompson was a four-year starter (1994-98) for the Lady Bulldogs under former head coaches Jerry Henderson and Sharon Fanning. An SEC All-Freshman pick as a rookie, she went on to claim second-team all-league honors as a junior and capped her MSU career as a first-team all-SEC recipient in 1997-98. Thompson averaged an SEC-best 9.6 rebounds per game as a freshman and posted her career-best scoring average (16.8 ppg) during her senior year. Having paced the Lady Bulldogs in rebounding all four years of her career, Thompson currently ranks second behind former WNBA player LaToya Thomas on the school’s all-time list with 936 career rebounds. Thompson also ranks among MSU’s career leaders in scoring (1,526 points), made field goals (566) and made free throws (366). Thompson earned her bachelor’s degree in educational psychology from Mississippi State. She completed her master’s degree in physical education from the University of West Alabama in 2003. |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 29 August 2012 ) |
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