Kent & Thomas inducted in to Halls of Fame alma maters

McLennan women's golf coach Kaity Kent and women's basketball coach Candice Thomas were recently inducted into the Hall of Fame at their respective alma maters.

Kent was named to the Hall of Honor at Houston Christian University, formerly Houston Baptist University (HBU). She is considered one of the most decorated in HCU women's golf history. During her time as a Huskie, she helped the squad claim back-to-back Southland Conference Championship in 2017 and 2018, winning the individual conference championship in 2018. She was a four-time all-conference selection, earning first-team honors in 2018 and 2019. Kent also excelled in the classroom, earning four NGCA/WGCA All-American Scholar honors and four Southland Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll recognitions. She was also selected to the Academic All-Conference Team twice and was a two-time winner of the HBU Jan Edds Female Athlete of the Year award. She represented the women's golf team on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma student-athlete academic honors fraternity. Kent also spent two years as the assistant coach for the men's and women's golf teams at HCU, where she worked directly with student-athletes on individual skills as well as planning drills, and assisting with tournament strategies, recruiting, budgeting, social media marketing and academic success.

In her first season as head coach at McLennan in 2023-24, Kent led the Highlanders to a third-place finish at the NJCAA Southwest District Championship, narrowly missing an automatic qualifying position to the national tournament. The Highlanders were rewarded with an at-large bid to the NJCAA Division I National Championship, where the team finished in fourth place. Sophomore Mia Clarke finished in seventh place, individually, to earn NJCAA Second-Team All-American honors, and the team was selected by the national tournament coaches to receive the 2024 Division I Women's Golf Sportsmanship Award. The team also excelled in the classroom, earning NJCAA Academic Team Honorable Mention awards. Three players were named North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference Academic All-Conference selections, and five players received NJCAA All-Academic awards.

Thomas was named to the Prairie View A&M University Hall of Fame as part of the 2006-07 SWAC Championship women's basketball team. She was a four-year starter for the Lady Panthers at Prairie View A&M University. As a freshman in 2006, she led the team to the program's first SWAC Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance, and she was named the SWAC Tournament MVP. Thomas led the team to regular-season conference championships in 2008 and 2009, tournament championships in 2007 and 2009, another NCAA appearance in 2009 and an NIT appearance in 2008. She was a three-time SWAC First-Team All-Conference selection, earning Player of the Year honors in 2008.

Thomas became the McLennan women's basketball head coach in 2023 after spending the previous 10 seasons as an assistant coach for the program. In her first season, Thomas led the squad to a North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference Championship with an 11-2 record and an appearance at the Region V Tournament. Thomas was named the conference's Co-Coach of the Year, and four players earned all-conference selections including Defensive Player of the Year Aysia Ward. Mersadez Nephew was named an all-Region selection and an NJCAA Honorable Mention All-American.