Both her high school coach, Porcha, and her club team coach, Boo Williams, are not short on praise for Ruffin-Pratt. Both think she might just be the best player they’ve ever seen at the high=school level. In fact, Porcha is adamant about it.

“We have absolutely no animosity on our team because they know that Tierra does whatever is necessary for the success of the team," Porcha said. "She never worries about her own personal stats or accolades. Even the refs love her because she never argues a perceived bad call. She runs down loose balls out of bounds and hands the ball back to the ref all the time.”

Ruffin-Pratt has a competitive stare on the court that she honed playing from ages 6-12 against boys in rec leagues and pick-up games.

“It made me stronger and all that,” Ruffin-Pratt said. “The boys are stronger, make you work harder and it is a lot faster. It’s how I am able to play defense.. it made it easier when I started playing girls.”

Ruffin-Pratt always is the most aggressive player on the court and not in a reckless way. She brings it every possession. It’s what makes her elite and not just good.

“She is the ultimate competitor as she just refuses to lose," Porcha said. "She will do whatever is needed in order for her team to get the win. If that means diving on the floor for loose balls, she does that. If that means guarding the other team's best player, regardless of position, she will do that. If it means moving to the point guard so we can handle the other team's pressure to get into our offense she will do that. Even if it means going down low and getting all the critical rebounds to close out a game she will do that.”

At the Boo Williams Invitational, Ruffin-Pratt, who is 5 feet 10, took on the No. 1 prospect in the 2008 class, 6-4 Elena DelleDonne. By her coach's count she held DelleDonne to only one field goal made in the Boo Williams semifinal. DelleDonne was forced to do her damage against other defenders or from the free=throw stripe.

Ruffin-Pratt's success has her community up in arms. Suddenly girls have someone to look up to in girl’s basketball and Ruffin-Pratt is a role model with her talent and gets it done in the classroom. “She has changed the culture of girl’s basketball in our City (Alexandria),” Porcha said. “All of our youth girl’s basketball players in the city aspire to be like Tierra as she has cultivated the sport (to) all of the girls in our city.”

She has maintained a GPA over 3.0 now for nearly two years and has been a VHSL Honor Roll recipient while playing a varsity sport.

With her competitive nature, Ruffin-Pratt also looks forward to big matchups such as the one with Delle Donne. She seems to thrive on them.

Tierra Ruffin-Pratt (photo by Glenn Nelson)

“I think I take it the most serious when I play top players,” said Ruffin-Pratt, the girl everyone knows as Tee. “I know my game has to be ready. Last year I used to get up for West Coast (Elite) and the (Georgia) Metros, teams like that. You got to beat the best to be the best and it’s not really even the top player, but the top teams I get up for.”

Chris Hansen is the National Director of Scouting for Women's Basketball at HoopGurlz.com. He leads the panel that evaluates and ranks girl's basketball prospects nationally for HoopGurlz. Chris has been involved in the women’s basketball community since 1998 as a coach, trainer, evaluator and reporter. He can be reached at chris@hoopgurlz.com.