Wann, Cosby too much for T.C. Williams

As she crossed halfcourt, dropping back into defense, Becca Wann clenched her fists down low by her sides and flexed -- just a little bit.

Just under eight minutes into the Group AAA quarterfinals, the Cosby junior already felt good. Her 3-point shot had been a little off the past few games, but with 9 seconds left in the first quarter, she was good on her second consecutive attempt.

Cosby pulled away, defeating T.C. Williams 87-59 last night at the Siegel Center, and Wann led all scorers with 31 points.

Wann's second 3-pointer gave Cosby a 14-point lead. T.C. Williams' star Tierra Ruffin-Pratt was on the bench in street clothes. For Wann, everything was going right.

"In warm-ups I was like, OK, I really need to shake this off," Wann said. "This is a big game. And once again, I had to loosen myself up and make sure that I was not all serious and uptight. So once I made one, it kind of made it easier to just keep shooting and they started going in."

Wann was 12 of 17 from the field, even nailing nearly a 35-foot buzzer-beater to end the third quarter.

"She's hit several this year . . . same type of shot on the buzzer," Cosby coach Rachel Mead said. "So I could see in her face, I'm like, she's going to do it. . . . As silly as it sounds and as unethical or unorthodox that it may be, she's pretty consistent doing those. And it looks spectacular, but we're like, their she goes again."

Ruffin-Pratt, T.C. Williams' All-American guard, was sidelined with a shoulder injury aggravated in the Northern Region final.

"She's led this team offensively, but also defensively," T.C. Williams coach Cavanaugh Hagen said. "It was obviously a big presence that was missing. But we prepared our girls as far as without Tierra playing. So I think we could have given them a harder fight."

Junior guard Andrea Bertrand scored 24 points and had five assists for Cosby. Center Jazmin Pitts scored 19 and pulled in 13 rebounds. The young Titans advance to the Group AAA semifinals for the first time in the school's four-year history.

"It's amazing," Bertrand said. "It's one of those life experiences that not a lot of people get to have, so we're just trying to enjoy it while we're here and go as far as we can."

Cosby never trailed, taking an 8-2 lead and extending it to as many as 36 points late in the fourth quarter. Playing fast and aggressive, the team scored 28 fast-break points and 58 in the paint.

"We learned early in the season that when we walk the ball down the floor, we give the defense a chance to set up," Mead said. "And we are extremely fast in every position, even Jazmin, even our post players can run the floor extremely well. So we learned real quick that walking the ball down the floor is not an option."

T.C. WILLIAMS (24-5)

Boston 3, Fikes 8, Thorne 7, Huggins 14, Norman 15, Schedler 4, Summa 1, Lewis 5, Williams 2, Yancey 0. Totals 22 17-29 59.
COSBY (28-1)

Conyers 4, Wann 31, Katzman 2, Bertrand 24, Pitts 19, Christian 3, Nichols 2, Foster 0, Lennox 0, Barnett 2, Kirshner 0, Gillespie 0. Totals 35 20-26 87.
T.C. Williams ------------------------- 10 18 12 19 -- 59
Cosby ------------------------- 24 21 15 27 -- 87

3-point goals: TCW -- Boston 2. C -- Wann 3.