Mississippi State adds Georgia Southern forward Kayla Thomas

An late transfer portal addition is in the boat for Sam Purcell and Mississippi State women’s basketball to start the new week.

The coach and his staff added a surprise commitment on Monday from former Penn State and Georgia Southern forward Kayla Thomas. The 6’3 post player is following her former head coach Anita Howard and teammate Terren Ward to Starkville as both have become Bulldogs as well in the last month.

Thomas comes to State after playing in 32 games for the Eagles last season with 11 starts. She shot 48% from the field and averaged 5.3 points and 3.8 rebounds a game on the season, but she turned it on late in the year.

Nine of Thomas’ 11 starts on the year came in the final 10 games. During that stretch, she averaged 9.7 points and 6.7 rebounds, more than tripling her averages prior to her time as a starter. She had five games of 10 or more points in her final eight games as well.

Prior to transferring to Georgia Southern, the Maryland native played for Penn State for two seasons. Thomas played in 35 games during those two years with 1.6 points and 1.2 rebounds per contest. She averaged 6.7 minutes off of the bench and shot 44%.

Thomas, who played her high school basketball for Emerge Christian Academy, actually has some Mississippi ties. Thomas’ mother, Tenicka Strown, was a three-sport athlete for Mississippi Valley State in the 1990’s. Strown starred in basketball, volleyball and track for the Delta Devils and was named the MVSU Female Athlete of the Year twice during her time in Itta Bena while also being inducted into the Hall of Fame at MVSU back in 2008.

The Bulldog roster is starting to fill out as State has now put together 14 members for next year’s team with one scholarship to spare. Thomas joins UAB PG Denim DeShields, Ward, Kentucky G Eniya Russell and Oklahoma State G Chandler Prater out of the portal.

Also joining the roster will be JUCO All-American G Destiney McPhaul and 6’6 Kenyan National Team standout Madina Okot along with three freshmen enrollees in June. State returns just two starters in second-team All-SEC G Jerkaila Jordan and two-year starter Debreasha Powe. Quanirah Montague is back for her second season as is Rocio Jimenez who missed last year due to a knee injury.