Rich South coach Brian Mays believes junior Tierra Webb is a pretty unique individual.
“She’s a gym rat with a 4.0.”
Webb begs to differ.
“I actually have a 4.3,” she said. “Ever since I was a little kid my mom was on me with the grades. I can’t play basketball without those grades, so I just try to get the best of the grades.”
The 5-7 junior guard loves math, and wants to major in kinesiology. For now, though, she’s getting the best of grades — and a lot of opponents.
Webb is the scoring leader for Rich South (15-8). In a 60-59 win Feb. 6 over Rich East, she totaled 24 points, nine rebounds and six steals.
For the season, Webb is averaging 15.8 points (with 32 three-pointers), 6.3 rebounds and 3.7 steals per game.
Webb began playing up a level as a sixth grader on the seventh-grade team at Colin Powell Middle School, already having been toughened by her older brother, Tylen.
She would not be intimidated.
“Not at all. I had older friends and (Tylen). I always played with him. Nobody is meaner than my older brother,” she said, laughing.
“I always wanted to be like him. We used to play soccer, and then we got a basketball rim outside. The shot I used to always do was a three-point from the street. My brother said I was good, so I started playing basketball.”
Mays, who is the athletic director at Colin Powell, brought Webb up to the varsity at Rich South when she was a freshman.
“You could see she was playing well even as a sixth grader,” he said. “She’s always played above. She had it. It’s not that she came in and took somebody’s spot. She earned it in junior high.”
Webb averaged 9.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.2 steals per game as a freshman, hitting 24 three-pointers on a team that had established stars in Kiela Garner, and CiErra and DeAsia Garrett.
Last season Webb’s numbers increased to 13.4 points (32 threes), 7.3 rebounds and 4.2 steals. She earned MVP honors at the Galaxy Tournament, all-area honors and All-State honorable mention. She helped the Stars beat Hillcrest twice, including in a regional final.
This year she and former Colin Powell teammate Tierney Lockett are the 1-2 scoring punch for the Stars.
“With her and Tierney … both of those two, if one is not on, the other one is on,” Mays said. “The biggest thing with Tierra is her leadership.
“At practice I’ll tell her when something is going on, ‘Look, you need to talk to your team.’ And she works hard. When she’s not at (Rich South), she’s in the complex next to Colin Powell working out. Her dad has a personal trainer for her. So she puts the work in.”
