Weber State Athlete | Deeshyra Thomas | Women’s Basketball
Senior Deeshyra Thomas has spent the past four years at Weber State University carving out her legacy.
After two fairly productive seasons as a Wildcat, she had a breakout season her junior year and established her reputation as a leader. Coming into the final homestand of Thomas’ career, she continued her dominant run.
In the eventual loss against the University of North Dakota, she became just the 18th player in Weber State women’s basketball history to score over 1,000 points in her career.
In the penultimate home game of Thomas’ career, the ’Cats suffered their biggest loss in almost two full years, losing by 28 points. Their next game was Thomas’ final at the Dee Events Center.
Before the game, she was announced to the crowd as the only senior on the team for the matchup against the University of Idaho.
Thomas started for the Wildcats and scored a team-high 26 points. She shot the ball 19 times from the field while attempting another seven free throws.
In the matchup with the Vandals, she also grabbed three rebounds and dished out three assists.
Late in the game, Thomas was the recipient of a hard hit and ended up with a split lip. As she had done for years, Thomas came back into the game just minutes after to help her team.
Over the past few seasons, she has consistently been unlucky in regard to her health, battling severe flu bouts and black eyes from opponents. Despite the injuries, Thomas played as much as she could and left her mark as a scorer and a teammate.
Professional Athlete | James Harden | Houston Rockets
James Harden was selected as the third overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder. He played three nominal seasons for the Thunder in his journey to becoming a basketball superstar.
When he was traded to the Houston Rockets in 2012, his stats and his career took off.
He hasn’t averaged fewer than 25 points per game since he has played for the Rockets. His game, much like his beard, has grown tremendously.
He currently leads the NBA in assists per game, at 11.7, and he is third in the league in points per game at 28.7, trailing only Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook.
Harden’s stardom is made of much more than his scoring, though. It’s also how he leads his teammates to score. Houston averages five players besides Harden who score double-digit points every game.
Harden is a hustle player. The four-time All Star leads the Rockets in boards, averaging 8.3 rebounds per game. With many regular season games still left to play, he already has 36 double-doubles and 13 triple-doubles on the books for this season. That’s 13 and 10 more than the entire last season, consecutively.
James Harden continues to propel the Rockets into the ESPN NBA Power Rankings, where Houston currently holds a fourth place spot behind the Golden State Warriors, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the San Antonio Spurs.
The Rockets hope to soar past those three teams in their hopes of winning the playoffs this year.
