Before the tip-off of the 2024-25 women’s basketball season, every team in the American Athletic Conference went to Fort Worth, Texas, for the conference’s annual media day. There, coaches were urged to vote for the preseason All-AAC teams.
Temple guard Tiarra East made the cut, which was not shocking after a 399-point season while leading the Owls to their best season since 2017. But she was taken aback when she saw that instead of being named to the conference’s first team, she was grouped with the AAC’s second best — something she felt was a slight to her game.
“I knew I was gonna be on the list but I was expecting to be on first team,” East said. “But that’s what they wanted to do so I’m just gonna prove myself. I definitely have a chip on my shoulder. I’m not gonna take that very lightly about where they put me at.”
East has high expectations for what she hopes to accomplish entering her final season. She spent her offseason developing her three-point shot and fine-tuning the skills she’s already good at. She feels her skillset will lead her to be in the mix for the conference’s player of the year and serve as the team’s primary scoring threat yet again.
“I put in a lot of work with my trainer,” East said. “We worked on just continuing to get better at the things that I’m already good at and then sharpening up my three point shooting and coming off ball screens.”
East has improved each year since she first put on a Temple uniform in the 2021-22 season and has become one of Temple’s best players. She stepped up for an undermanned Owls team in 2022 and became their leading scorer last season. Now, head coach Diane Richardson is looking for her to take yet another step forward.
During the offseason, Richardson tasked East with developing into a player that can score at all three levels of the court. The work she has put in to accomplish that goal has even led to Richardson giving her a new nickname.
“You’ll see her just really focused, that’s why I’m calling her LeBron [James,]” Richardson said. “She’s really grown this year in terms of using her voice and she understands that we expect her to be the leader and to be the face of the program. She’s pretty fierce, so she really loves the game and she’s really passionate about the game.”
East became the go-to player in clutch situations last season, remaining calm at times when most might get rattled. She scored the game-winning three against Wichita State on Jan. 31, a week after she made a shot that would have clinched the win against SMU but the ball left her hands just a second late on Jan. 24.
One of East’s biggest goals for this season is to make the NCAA Tournament after Temple came just two games from making it last year. East thinks the Owls are capable of winning through March and is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that happens. Her motivation is something her teammates and coaches have taken notice of.
“She’s a dog,” said assistant coach Myles Jackson. “She calls herself a Silverback, she wants to be the best player. She doesn’t care if she has to play for all 40 minutes. She don’t care if she has to go guard the biggest player or the fastest player. Whatever it takes to win, that’s her demeanor.”
East took off at the end of her freshman season, starting in the last 12 games of the season. Richardson took the head coaching position a month later and East had the choice to leave for greener pastures or stay with the program after the coaching change, but sticking around was an easy choice.
“I felt like I didn’t really get my feet wet the first year and I didn’t show everything I could,” East said. “So I decided to stick with Coach Rich. She believed in me and I believed in myself that I could do something with her and the team that she brought in.”
Richardson and her staff are heavily relying on East to be the team’s leader and guide them to an extended postseason run.
“She’s our alpha, our best player,” Jackson said. “We think she has a chance to be a Player of the Year candidate this year. So we’re going to her. The ball’s gonna be in her hand whether she makes the shot or makes the right pass. We just expect her to do good things when it’s time to be clutch.”
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