 Tiara was jewel in Gulf's program
This article appeared in the Tampa Tribune on Mar. 29, 2005.
By JOEY KNIGHT NEW PORT RICHEY - She doesn't remember where she was driving, only the ultimatum she was steering toward. With daughters Dominique and Tiara Cook buckled in, Monique Ellis buckled down. ``I don't even know how we got on the subject, and I just said, `I want one of y'all to decide to play basketball,' '' said Monique, a standout post player at Clearwater High in the early 1980s. ``I was hinting to Tiara because she was taller than Dominique at the time.'' Tiara got the hint. She, too, is unable to remember where her family was headed that day about a half-decade ago, but now realizes that otherwise inconsequential drive led her to a crossroads. Today, Cook, a 6-foot Gulf High junior, is The Tampa Tribune's girls basketball player of the year for Pasco County. She is the most dominant player for the most dominant team in Pasco County - and a coveted Division I prospect with a qualifying test score. ``My mom was like, `OK, one of y'all has got to play basketball,' '' Cook said. ``I was like, `OK, I guess I will.' So I tried out in eighth grade and I guess I was good.'' More specifically, she was tall, fast and extremely raw. Her refinement, however, has been gradual and glaring. Three seasons ago, Cook was a disheartened freshman on a team that won one game. This past season, she averaged 18.4 points, 10.7 rebounds, 3.8 steals and 2.6 blocks for a 25-2 club that won Sunshine Athletic Conference and district titles. Only one Pasco County team - Wesley Chapel - came within 10 points of the Bucs. An overtime loss to Plant, and a one-sided playoff defeat to eventual state champion Winter Haven on the road, were the lone blemishes on Gulf's season. ``My mom's the one that's like, happy about this stuff,'' Cook said. Indeed, Cook's evolution has allowed Monique to remain close to the game she adores, and fulfill her dreams of playing at the college level, albeit by umbilical proxy. A 1983 Clearwater graduate, Monique was a 6-foot-1 force for the Tornadoes who said she had an offer to play at Brevard Community College. Poor grades, however, thwarted those aspirations. ``I used to play and I wanted one of [my daughters] to play,'' Monique said. ``I wanted to keep it going, because I love it so much.'' Initially, Cook didn't share that love. When Monique enlisted her in a youth league in Largo, she recalls that her youngest daughter ``didn't know what she was doing. I mean, she couldn't dribble, she was traveling all the time.'' But in time, Cook's potential blossomed. So did her passion. Now, she's a year-round player who has received letters from three dozen colleges. The abundance of playmakers on Gulf's perimeter prohibits teams from sagging in on Cook, essentially allowing her to establish inside position at will. ``Really with Tiara, when you've got those kinds of tools to work with, you just have to go back and refine some things,'' said Bucs second-year coach Mike Quarto, who starred at Tampa Catholic in the early 1990s. ``We talk all the time about how she's still really new to the game and she still has that love for every game and so forth.'' Call it a genuine love. And a genetic one. ``I just pushed her and kept pushing her,'' Monique said. ``She finally decided she wanted to do it. Now she loves it.'' ALL-PASCO COUNTY GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM
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