Kayla Thornton’s best season yet in the WNBA just got its most tangible reward: She’s going to the all-star game.
The 10th year pro for the Golden State Valkyries, a graduate of UTEP and Irvin High in El Paso, was selected as a Western Conference reserve for the game, which will be July 19 in Indianapolis. Her previous all-star appearance was in the last NBA all-star game where she part of the celebrity game.
This has been a remarkable year for Thornton, who fresh off of winning a WNBA title with the New York Liberty on her 32nd birthday, was selected in the expansion draft by the Golden State Valkyries.
The expectation was she’d be a leader and star for the presumed worst team in the league. Thornton has indeed taken on a starring role, and in the process has made her team surprisingly good. The Valkyries are 9-7 and in fourth in the Western Conference.
The 6-foot-1 forward is averaging 14.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, and also scored the first basket in Valkyries history. For the week of June 9-15 she was named the WNBA’s player of the week after averaging 20.0 points and 11.5 rebounds in two games.
In her first nine seasons she averaged 7.0 points and 4.1 rebounds and was usually the Liberty’s sixth player and defensive stopper.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP alum Kayla Thornton named to her first WNBA all-star team for Golden State Valkyries
Reporting by Bret Bloomquist, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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