Coro: Tiarra adds jewel to GCU, joins sister Tianna
8/17/2020 9:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball, Paul Coro
Share:
Youngest Brown emulated older sister's play since she started basketball
By: By Paul Coro
With a father who coached basketball and three older siblings that played it, Tiarra Brown wanted nothing to do with playing the sport when she was a young girl.
Her game proved wild, to good and bad extremes, when she succumbed to playing in fifth grade but her interest changed once she saw her sister Tianna thriving in high school. Then, she wanted to get her game to the same place, a feeling that did not stop in April when new Grand Canyon head coach Molly Miller made her first recruiting offer for Tiarra to join Tianna on the Lopes.
Tiarra, an all-Washington player and Tacoma-area Player of the Year, was on the cusp of signing with Eastern Washington when her high school coach and father, Tim, sent game video to Miller.
"I don't even need to see the whole game," Miller told Tim after watching a disruptive defender who fit her style of play.
Tiarra contributed across the board at Bethel High School with 18.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 3.6 steals per game but her desire to defend has not changed much from when Tim threw her to the summer club basketball lions for her debut in fifth grade.
"When she was ready, it was a sight to see," Tim said. "I was shaking my head the whole game. She had 10 steals but she could not make a layup. She was hitting the ball off the backboard so hard."
That strength is still in the 5-foot-10 guard as she joins Tianna, a junior who averaged 5.1 points for GCU last season. Being reunited for two college seasons feel like their two shared high school seasons, with Tianna again guiding Tiarra.
Tianna always has been her basketball barometer, from the time Tiarra turned serious about the game in seventh grade and tried to emulate her. Tiarra took close losses in the family driveway like wins.
"I never really asked her for help but I would just watch her and then I was like, 'I'm in seventh grade but I'm going to try to do the same things she can do,' " Tiarra said. "I was always trying to top what she was doing. It felt like a competition to me."
Â
 Tianna and Tiarra Brown
Once Tianna left for college, Tiarra's game grew in different ways, as she was forced to take on more responsibilities with the team and correct mistakes on her own.
"I didn't always have someone to lift me up or make me work harder," Tiarra said. "I had to drive myself. I feel like I can do that on my own now."
Amid the first-week whirlwind of the new GCU job, Miller conducted a deep dive on Tiarra and kept checking boxes – size, strength, defense, defense and defense.
"That mindset and ability she has on the defensive end obviously is going to complement our system," Miller said. "She already had an idea of GCU for location and teammates. I just had to sell her on a vision. It was a little bit of a lob for me.
"I pulled the trigger pretty early but I had a lot of confidence in what she can bring to the team."
The chance to play with Tianna again was special, but the system fit made it a quick decision for Tiarra, who accepted the offer immediately.
Tiarra wants to play the type of full-court, high-intensity defense that Miller employs.
"I've always been a defensive player but Coach Miller brings more of it out in us," Tiarra said amid the team's summer practices. "How intense she wants it, that's where I need to be. She likes an all-around player.
"Literally, anyone on the court can score. But being that player who can stop the scorer, that's even better than an ankle-breaker or anything else. That's the main aspect of the game."
Â
  Tim and Tiarra Brown
Tim and his wife, Syteria, are empty nesters now and it is comforting for their two youngest children to know that the one still by his side is a licensed practice nurse. Tim is on a heart transplant list because he has lived the past 10 years with congestive heart failure, a condition in which the heart does not pump blood sufficiently for the body's needs.
A ventricular assist device is implanted in Tim to help mechanically pump blood to the rest of his body.
Seeing his daughters in one place is ideal for him and Syteria, who have one place to visit and one team to follow while he continues to coach Bethel girls basketball without a Brown for the first time in six years.
"Tianna knows what Tiarra is capable of," Tim said. "Tianna is pretty much Mommy on the basketball court. She's hard on her.
"They're going to be really pleased with what Tiarra brings to the table."
Tiarra, an all-Washington player and Tacoma-area Player of the Year, was on the cusp of signing with Eastern Washington when her high school coach and father, Tim, sent game video to Miller.
