Points, rebounds, steals, blocks — Bethel’s Tiarra Brown does it all in senior year
The Bethel High School girls basketball team flew under the radar last year, with then-junior Tiarra Brown and then-sophomore Esmeralda Morales guiding a Braves team that felt like it wasn’t given the respect it was due.
Then Bethel stunned No. 1 seed Prairie in the 2019 West Central III/Southwest bi-district tournament, winning 54-37 and putting the state on notice: The Braves were for real.
In the 2019-20 season, it was less of a scrappy underdog story for Bethel and more a show of force, with the Braves not sneaking up on anyone this year.
Bethel put together a 24-3 record and a 14-0 mark in the Class 3A Pierce County League, earning a berth in the 3A state tournament at the Tacoma Dome, where Bethel finished sixth, the program’s highest finish ever.
At the center of Bethel’s emergence as a legitimate state power the past few seasons has been Brown, who averaged 18 points, 10 rebounds, 4.6 steals, 3.2 assists and three blocks this season, en route to being named the 3A PCL MVP.
She is The News Tribune’s 2020 All-Area girls basketball player of the year.
“I think she came in with a different mindset than she has since her ninth grade year,” said coach Tim Brown, Tiarra’s dad. “She knew her and Esmeralda were going to be players that were going to be aimed at during the season, so she really took it on herself in the summer and offseason to really work on getting stronger, different parts of her game defensively. She focused a lot on her defensive skills.”
Brown put in time during the offseason working on her midrange game, too.
“They knew I was a slasher, knew I could drive, knew I could shoot the three,” Brown said. “I worked on my pullup this year and that changed my game a lot.”
There aren’t many players in the South Sound, if any, who were more complete players than Brown this season. Scoring points wasn’t the sole focus for Brown.
“I take a lot of pride in it,” Brown said. “Being a scorer isn’t the main factor in being a great basketball player. I know you have to be all around the court defensively and with rebounding, assists, all around.”
To Tim Brown, it was her most complete season yet.
“It’s developed every year,” Tim Brown said. “She loves to make the extra pass, draw the extra defenders and then give it to her teammate. She trusted all her teammates this year, trusted our post, our other wing, all the players to make a play.”
Bethel’s run at a state title ultimately came up short, with the Braves missing freshman Alyssa Smith — the team’s third-leading scorer, behind Morales and Brown — with an injury she sustained earlier in the season. That proved costly for Bethel in the state tournament.
Still, Brown and Morales formed a formidable 1-2 punch over the past few seasons, with Morales averaging 22 points per game this season. Combined, they averaged 40 points per game.
“We’ve had that connection ever since we started playing with each other,” Brown said. “She knows, we just look at each other and she knows. It made it difficult because of that connection we had. It’s hard to get a connection like that.”
Brown said she’s proud of the legacy she leaves behind at Bethel.
“I hope I leave as a leader throughout the years,” she said. “It’s tough in the league that we’re in and the area that we’re in. I hope I left a legacy to be known and that over the years it’ll stay like that.”
Tim Brown won’t get to coach his daughter anymore, but he said it’s been a ‘blessing’ in his life.
“She’s worked hard this year, she showed it on the court,” he said. “The best thing I can say about her is she’s an all-around player, offensively and defensively. She picks her team up and I just love what she gave to the team and to Bethel High School this year.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
