Thrower will be joining the Tornadoes from Lawson State Community College in Birmingham.
Head coach Romeo Lagmay said he sees good things ahead for the athlete.
“She had some good stats and a 3.2 GPA coming in as Pre-Law,” Lagmay said. “She was able to move my post player. She came in for a tryout, and she moved my post player at 6’3” from Mississippi, Bianca Thomas. No one can really move her around and she did. That’s what really caught my attention.”
Lagmay said he has recruited from Lawson State before and knows the school runs a tough program.
“I had a good post player, Danielle Pageant,” Lagmay said. “She was a leading shot-blocker for me. I’m always getting a lot of California athletes, so I wanted to stay in the south a little bit and that’s exactly what I did.”
The coach said Thrower has already met some of her future teammates at the tryout and feels she will be able to transition well.
“She has to learn my system,” Lagmay said. “She has to see what kind of personality and character I like to bring to the table, and I still need to get to know her more. I’m pretty tough in pre-season conditioning and my expectations are high.”
During her 2011-2012 season with the Cougars, Thrower played in all 26 games, and scored 214 points.
The 5’10” power-forward also managed to bring down 188 rebounds on the season, for an average of 7.23 per game.
Thrower, who began playing basketball in the first grade, said she was able to develop more at LSCC.
“They were tough on me,” Thrower said. “They told me what I did wrong and what I did right. I think that’s what made me push forward to get better and better.”
Lagmay said he sees a lot of positives in Thrower.
“She’s got strength, a mid range and I know she has the potential to get better,” Lagmay said. “I saw that when she was running up and down the court.”
The head coach said it might be too soon to tell if Thrower will start her first season with the Tornadoes, but it will all depend on her transition.
“I may be too tough for her,” Lagmay said. “I don’t promise any starting positions, but it’s one of those situations which, if it’s her time to be there on the court, I’m going to give her due process.”
Thrower’s mother, Daisey Lee Thrower-Moore, said this accomplishment wasn’t without a few rough patches.
“Chaquitta had gone through a lot with her daddy being sick and then passing,” Thrower-Moore said. “We buried him one day and then the next day she had to go to college, and she maintained her grades. There were times she called home and wanted to drop out because she was going through so much, but I encouraged her to stick it out. She is a strong-willed person.”
A Texas native, Thrower said being so far away from his family has been rough, and she gets homesick because she has such a good relationship with her mother.
It’s also why she felt Talladega would be a good choice for her.
“I just liked the feeling of the school,” Thrower said. “It’s a good, home-setting environment that’s made me feel at home.”
