Everett, WA – After three seasons, Jeannie Thompson is stepping down as the head women's basketball coach at Everett Community College. Thompson took over the program in 2021, after the retirement of Chet Hovde who had a 33 year career coaching the Trojans, making the NWAC playoffs 14 times and finishing as high as 7th in the NWAC.
The 2021 season was the first full season back after two abbreviated COVID-19 seasons, but Thompson leaned into the challenge with a 12-13 overall record and finished 3rd in the North region at 9-5, taking EvCC back to the playoffs in the final year that the NWAC Tournament would be hosted at EvCC. It was a balanced scoring attack led by Sydney VanNess (now playing at Evergreen State College and leading the team in scoring) who averaged 14.8 points per game. Current EvCC assistant coach Courtney Perry averaged 11.2 points per game on that team and also averaged nearly 8 rebounds per game and led the team in blocked shots. Mikail Montez (currently at Evergreen State) just about averaged a double double with 10.7 points per game and 9.5 rebounds, and standout freshman Maddy Thoma averaged 8.6 points per game along with sophomore transfer Kinslee Gallatin who put up 8.3 per game. Starting point guard Thuyvi Tran who led the team in assists also ended up transferring on to play at Evergreen State College.
The next year was a challenging one with a slew of injuries to key players, making it difficult to build momentum throughout the year. Mikail Montez was among those injured and finished her EvCC career with 441 rebounds, placing her 9th on the all-time career list. She only needed to average 9.7 rebounds per game through the remaining 13 games on the schedule to break the EvCC all-time career rebounding record.
In Thompson's final season, the Trojans returned four sophomores for 2023-2024 and went on to win 11 games and finish 6th in the North region. Transfer freshman Baylor Thomas from Lake Stevens led the NWAC in scoring averaging 22.9 points per game, and also broke the EvCC all-time record for the most free throws made in a single season, with 207. Her 642 total points scored also ranks 2nd all-time at EvCC in a single season. Another freshman Jada Andresen from Snohomish hit 77 three pointers, which is the 3rd most all time at EvCC. As a team, they got to the line as well as anyone in the NWAC, and led the conference in the most made free-throws (458), which also is an EvCC all-time record for the most made by any EvCC team.
"I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a part of Trojan Nation the last three years, said Thompson. This school and athletic community is special and I'll forever treasure the memories I made with our players and coaches. Special thanks to Garet Studer and Sue Snow for their support of me, my family, and the women's basketball program."
We sincerely thank Jeannie for her contributions and dedication to leading the women's basketball program these past three seasons, said Athletic Director Garet Studer. Coach Thompson cares about her players, and goes about running her program the right way."
The search for the new head women's basketball coach will begin immediately with the goal of having EvCC's 9th head coach in the program's 45 year history named before the end of the month.