Tampa has high expectations coming back from arguably the best season in school history. The UT women’s basketball team is ranked 22nd in the nation by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
Forward Tiara Cook, a rare four-year player for the Spartans, will be counted on to carry the team on the court while leading the team off it.
Born locally in Holiday, Fla., Cook started her career in basketball at an early age. Cook’s mother played for Clearwater High School and influenced her to pick up a basketball and start to learn the game. Cook said luckily she began at a young age because she was not too good at first. Once she attended middle school, her hard work and practice paid off.
“When I got to middle school, I started playing seriously in eighth grade, and that’s when I really just stayed with it,” Cook said.
Cook was a standout at Gulf High School, averaging over seventeen points, ten rebounds and two blocks a game in her senior season. Though her “double-double” per game average is impressive, it was not her greatest high school accomplishment. Instead, it was making a name for her team.
“They weren’t too good when I first got there,” said Cook. “So I was just like, ‘When I leave, everybody’s going to know about Gulf High School,’ and that’s what happened.
We got to [the Elite Eight], we had a great season, had a great record. We won district titles so that‘s my greatest accomplishment– being able to put Gulf High on the map.”
Then came her choice of which college to attend, a decision that heavily relied on being close to home.
“I had never been away from home. I had always been in the Pasco and Pinellas County area. I didn’t want to leave my family,” Cook said.
After recruitment from head coach Tom Jessee, Cook ended up a Spartan. Jessee explained the talents he saw in Cook while scouting her.
“We saw a versatile player– an athlete that can run and jump, a tremendous offensive rebounder, that we thought was really good down inside; good speed and quickness,” Jessee said. “We thought if we could add some outside shooting touch to her that she was really going to be a handful.”
She proved to be just that: a handful. In her first collegiate game Cook notched 16 points against Columbus State, as a reserve. Moving along to last year as a junior her success continued. Now as a starter with over twelve points and six rebounds a game, Cook was voted an All-Sunshine State Conference player.
Coach Jessee feels Cook is a unique player for The University of Tampa because she has been with the team all four years of her collegiate career.
“Tiara has seen both sides of it. She’s seen the side as a reserve, now she’s seeing it as a veteran player and having some success,” Jessee said. “She’s as good as any other player in the league. I thought she was hands down the difference in our late season run last year.”
Cook is also being heavily relied on this year to push the Spartans over the top and earn a national championship.
“If you look at the box scores, it just not scoring. We need her to fill up the box score. We need rebounds, points, steals, blocked shots. We’re a system team and we think as long as she plays in the system, that we’ll be okay,” Jessee said..
Whether she is racking up stats or cheering her team on, Cook has also become a leader.
“No matter if she’s in the game or on the bench, she’s involved,” said Jessee. “She was voted unanimously by her teammates as a captain this year.”
Cook puts a lot of pressure on herself as well. She knows she must be there for the team on game day, or any other day for that matter.
“I feel like I have to be able to carry the team through the ups and downs no matter if it’s on the court or off the court,” said Cook.
Though she is obviously a very gifted basketball player, she says she will not continue playing after college. She plans on moving to California next December to pursue a career in modeling.
“It’s not that I don’t have a passion for [the game] anymore,” Cook asserted, “it’s just [that] I want to start another passion that I’ve had to put aside because of basketball.”
Until next December, there is a full season of basketball to be played.
The women Spartans’ first game is at Palm Beach Atlantic on Tuesday, Nov. 17th. The Spartans will have two more road games after that before returning to Tampa for their home opener on Nov. 25 versus Valdosta State.
Cook wants to give this season her all and leave college knowing she played as best she could. “I want to finish with no regrets,” Cook said. “I’m just going to try hard every day [and] every game to continue to win.”