Thomas is back, as is Merrimack
Merrimack graduate student entered the women’s basketball season excited to build on a breakout senior year. Thomas had earned preseason All-Northeast Conference honors, and the Warriors were ranked second in the conference poll.
But on a routine drive to the basket in preseason practice, Thomas partially tore a ligament in her right foot. She avoided surgery but missed the first two months of her final season.
“It was really hard mentally, because I was in the best shape of my life,” Thomas said. “I trained all summer on campus, I was in the gym every single day, I was really ready to attack, and I felt really confident in what I had done.”
Thomas’s season has paralleled the Warriors’ ups and downs. Merrimack endured a brutal nonconference slate and started the year 3-13, also dropping its first three NEC matchups. Thomas returned to start conference play Jan. 6, and since then, she has been in a rhythm and the Warriors have thrived.
Merrimack has won eight of its last 10 games and stands third in the NEC at 8-5. Thomas, a 5-foot-9-inch shooting guard from North Chelmsford, leads the team with 13.8 points per game.
“I lost all those games at the beginning of the season,” she said. “I couldn’t even play and I was so excited to. Now I just have to attack every game and have the mind-set of: I can’t care what happens out there. This is all I have left.”
Thomas, a former Globe All-Scholastic at Central Catholic, kept shooting every day while injured, placing a chair under her knee. She sat on the bench next to the coaching staff during games and advised teammates.
The Warriors had a similar season script last year — they started 1-14, then won 14 of 16 games — so Thomas had relevant wisdom.
“We just kept trying to emphasize: Don’t focus on the record; like, focus on what we can take from each game, what we can bring to the NEC,” she said. “I know it [stinks] losing, but we learn a lot in nonconference games, and I kind of just tried to be that voice of reason.”
One player soaking up that insight has been freshman Thalia Shepard.
The 5-9 guard from Mattapan logged a breakout game Nov. 28 against Siena with 24 points, then missed a month with a thumb injury. Shepard has been a fixture in the starting lineup since Jan. 15 and has registered three 20-point outings in that span, including 21 in Friday’s 72-57 victory against St. Francis.
“I just feel like there’s times where we’re good at identifying when people are on a roll, and just feeding them,” Shepard said. “It’s not just me, it’s everyone put together, and I just think that we’re really connected.”
Thomas has five years of experience playing NEC foes, and while that has helped her build a mental notebook, she admires in some ways the fresh, carefree nature of freshmen like Shepard.
“She’s just fearless,” Thomas said. “She can score on all three levels. She just comes in with a ‘well, I don’t care who that is, I’m just going to go score.’ I think she’s been stepping up in all the right moments.”
Shepard and Thomas both point to Merrimack’s 55-43 loss to Holy Cross Dec. 20 as the contest that signaled better days ahead. Both were hurt for the game, but they watched their team hang tough on the road against the reigning Patriot League champions.
“Everyone looked together; everything looked perfect,” Shepard said. “I feel like even though we didn’t come up with a win on paper, personally, we were very proud with our performance.”
This season is full of last opportunities. Thomas has thought about playing professionally overseas, but doesn’t have current plans and is approaching March as if it’s the last time she’ll play at a high level. She and grad-student teammates Jayme DeCesare and Diamond Christian are also the last members of the program’s inaugural Division 1 season.
Merrimack will move to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference next year, so a run to the NEC championship would be a fitting way to go out on top.
“We want to leave the NEC with a ring on our finger — leave it on a high note,” Thomas said.
Crowning moment
In Division 3, Bowdoin captured its 10th NESCAC title Sunday by beating Bates, 66-56. Sydney Jones, daughter of Boston University men’s coach Joe Jones, scored 15 points in the win, and former Globe All-Scholastic Carly Davey of Westford added 12 . . . Smith, UMass Dartmouth, Framingham State, Western New England, and Springfield College are the Massachusetts schools competing in the Division 3 NCAA Tournament.