FAYETTEVILLE — After her freshman season on the North Carolina Central University basketball team, Lumberton’s London Thompson felt the Eagles team lacked the family atmosphere she desired in a team environment.
A season later, not only has she found it, but she’s much closer to home.
Thompson transferred to Fayetteville State University for her sophomore season, and is enjoying her new basketball home with the Broncos.
“The chemistry, the family — how they run things, the coaches, it’s just like a big family,” Thompson said.
Thompson went to NCCU from Lumberton High School, where she averaged 17 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and seven steals per game her senior year and was named Robeson County Player of the Year as a senior.
Now, she’s back close to home in Fayetteville, and plans to attend some games this year both at Lumberton and at St. Pauls, where her sister Jakieya is freshman on the girls basketball team.
“I’m actually loving it. It’s a big difference, but I love being back home, not missing much with my little sister being at St. Pauls,” Thompson said.
As a freshman at NCCU, Thompson averaged 2.1 points and 1.6 rebounds per game in 10.6 minutes per contest. She decided to move on from the Eagles program and find another team with a tighter team dynamic.
“It wasn’t like a family to me,” Thompson said. “I need more of a family-type team. We do better on the court if we’re a family, as one.”
Thompson described her journey, from Lumberton to N.C. Central to Fayetteville State, as one with obstacles, but says those challenges helped her end up where she is now.
“It was obstacles that had to wake me up,” Thompson said. “The obstacle last year actually woke me up and challenged me mentally to keep pushing, and just put everything in God’s hands.”
Her transfer to Fayetteville State was a big transition, not just from one team to another, but from one city to another and from Division I to Division II.
“It was rocky at first because things in D-II are way different than in D-I, so I had to slow down my pace a little bit, and actually learn more how they run things, and eventually I got it,” Thompson said.
In a small sample, through three games, Thompson has improved statistically this season with the Broncos, averaging 4.7 points and 3.3 rebounds per game through the team’s first three contests, including Wednesday’s loss at UNC Pembroke.
With the Broncos, Thompson is playing for coach Serena King-Coleman, who is in her third year with the program. Thompson has already made a deep connection with her coach.
“I love how she does everything, I love how she runs us and stuff like that, and she actually breaks down stuff, and makes sure everything is smooth and together,” Thompson said. “She’s like a mother to me.”
King-Coleman’s role as a mother-like figure makes sense — the FSU team is, after all, a family to Thompson.
