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Saniah Thomas and Cara Stewart -
PCHS graduates
By Sam McClanahan
When Saniah Thomas and Cara Stewart graduated from Pendleton County High School in May, they thought the next chapter of their life had already been written.
The two appeared to be headed to Eastern Kentucky University to begin their journey into adulthood, while also understanding that their time spent competing on the basketball court together had come to an end. But suddenly an opportunity presented itself that the duo could simply could not resist.
Last month, Thomas and Stewart, who established themselves as two of the greatest players in PCHS Ladycats history; both committed to Miami University Hamilton. They have already started taking part in team practices and are ecstatic about being about to continue playing the sport they love together.
"I feel like it was a coincidence, kind of like fate allowing us to be together at Miami. A couple months ago it looked like we were both going to EKU to be students," Thomas explained.
Miami Hamilton head coach Ross Tonyan had visited PCHS to watch Stewart play and was impressed with her play as well as Thomas and wanted the opportunity to make them both apart of his squad. Thomas had multiple offers she was weighing and Stewart knew that no matter which direction they went in, it would most likely be together.
"Saniah and I are always together. She's been my best friend since I left Silver Grove to start high school at Pendleton County. We pretty much do everything together and during the beginning of summer we decided to both commit to Coach Tonyan. He came to watch me play during high school and we could tell how much he wanted the chance to have us together on his team," Stewart explained.
The bond shared by the two young ladies goes far deeper than basketball. They admit to being as close as sisters while going through many experiences together over the past few years and are looking forward to getting acclimated to college life together.
"We toured the campus together and both really like the area. There's a lot of new people to meet and plenty of things to do," Stewart said.
Thomas and Stewart revealed that watching their former Ladycats teammates compete during their exhibition schedule in June heavily influenced their decision to join Miami Hamilton and keep their basketball playing careers active.
"We attended a lot of the Ladycats summer games and we both realized how much we still love basketball and competing. It was different to sit there and watch and not be out there on the court. After that, we knew that we still wanted to play," Thomas explained.
Miami University Hamilton is landing quite the package deal in getting Thomas and Stewart. Thomas graduated as the second all-time leading scorer and rebounder in Ladycats history while Stewart ranks sixth all-time in scoring and pulled down over 900 rebounds. Miami University Hamilton serves as a satellite campus for Miami University and competes on the Ohio Regional Campus Conference. The team name is called the Harriers.