Thompson’s addition to the War Eagles of 4A Gray Collegiate also greatly helped that team’s fortunes. Last week, Thompson secured an offer from Bellarmine. This goes alongside offers she received last year from Newberry and Jackson State. The War Eagles are set to begin play as a 5A participant once the 2026-27 season tips off. Thompson would play in 27 of Gray Collegiate’s 28 games for a War Eagles team that concluded its 2025-26 season with a solid record of 22-6. She averaged 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals per contest as she added depth to Gray Collegiate’s frontcourt. 

Thompson was one of a pair of key transfers to coach Brandon Wallace’s 4A Gray Collegiate program that were certain to make the War Eagles a force to be reckoned with in the frontcourt. The 6-foot-3 veteran big would play in 27 contests last season in Gray Collegiate threads while averaging 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds (second on last season’s War Eagles) and 1.2 steals per contest. Thompson was one of six 2027s on this past season’s War Eagles team and they are set to move up in class to 5A beginning with the 2026-27 season. She helped Gray Collegiate to a 22-6 record and a second-place finish in its region as well as a 4A Lower State semifinals berth. 

The No. 34 Thompson wears is a very fitting numeral for any big. Thompson joined the Gray Collegiate roster this year and the 10 points she tallied against 5A Division 2 Socastee kept the War Eagles’ winning ways going by virtue of a 63-53 victory. Many traditional bigs have talent – Thompson fuses together that talent with an imposing presence at a towering 6-foot-4. That in itself not only makes Thompson a matchup problem in the low post, it also makes her difficult to score against on the defensive end of the floor. With that height and presence, she also wins plenty of rebounding battles. 

The ends of months have been kind to Thompson lately in terms of recruitment. At the conclusion of July, she secured a collegiate get from Newberry College and she finishes August by landing an offer from Jackson State. Thompson is taking her talents from a 4A in the SCISA ranks in Cardinal Newman to a 4A High School League team in Gray Collegiate. The standout 2027 big played in 15 of the 22 games the Cardinals competed in last season, averaging 10 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. That type of production for the War Eagles will certainly help coach Brandon Wallace’s team in what is one of the tougher regions in the state.

We remain in the Midlands and turn our attention to another prospect from a 4A school. As the week commenced, Thompson announced that she landed her first offer – an in-state get from Newberry College. Thompson takes her talents from the SCISA realm at 4A Cardinal Newman to Gray Collegiate – a team which held its own despite a somewhat controversial jump from 2A to 4A. One of the more imposing interior presences in the state, Thompson averaged 10 points and 8.8 rebounds last season for the Cardinals and will provide a massive boost to coach Brandon Wallace’s War Eagles in 2025-26. 

A 6-foot-4 paint-patrolling big is very difficult to guard against. Said center is also very difficult to play defense against when a team does not have the bodies to match up against her. Thompson was a force to be reckoned with in Cardinal Newman’s come-from-behind victory over previously undefeated Curtis Baptist. She scored 23 points to will the Cardinals to the victory on its home floor. Thompson had 14 of those 23 in the second half. She was efficient in converting on easy baskets near the rim, she corralled rebound after rebound and she even displayed point guard-esque ball handling skills at times as well.

Zaria is a legit post player down in the paint for the Lady Cardinals. Thompson will play with her back to the basket and look to post up down low. Zaria plays the game physical and must stay out of foul trouble at times with her play. She does a nice job of rebounding the ball outside of her area on both ends. Zaria needs to stay focus and out of foul trouble while on the hardwood.

Thompson averaged 7.3 ppg, 9.6 rebounds and 3.4 blocks last season for the Lady Cardinals.