Albany State University guard April Thomas, the 2010-2011 Bainbridge High School female senior athlete of the year, had an outstanding freshman season with coach Robert Skinner’s Albany State University Lady Golden Rams basketball team.

Her top performance at Albany State came in January, when she scored a career-high 29 points, pulled down four rebounds and had three steals during an 81-74 victory over the Lane College Lady Dragons in Jackson, Tenn.

Twice during the season, the former Bainbridge High School star was named “Newcomer of the Week” by the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC).

Thomas, the daughter of Sharlyn Smith and Lawrence Thomas, was outstanding in basketball, softball and soccer during her senior year at Bainbridge High School.

As a basketball starting guard, she helped lead coach Latreisha Moon’s Lady Cats to a 21-7 record, a Region 1-AAAA Sub-Region championship and a berth in the second round of the State Class AAAA Tournament.

She was named honorable-mention All-State by both The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Georgia Sports Writers Association.

She also won the scoring award for averaging 19.9 points a game, the three-point award for connecting on 64 percent of her three-point shots, and the assist award for averaging a team-high 11 assists per game.

In softball, she started in right field for coach Eugene Singletary’s Lady Cats, helping lead them to 15 wins. That win total tied them with the 2006 Lady Cats for the most in school history.

In soccer, Thomas played forward for coach Chip Ariail’s Lady Cats.