They closed down The Garden on Tuesday night, the longtime home for both the T.C. Williams boys and girls basketball teams.
Next year the Titans will play in a gleaming new facility with more than double the seating capacity and room for three full courts.
Whether the atmosphere that gave The Garden its reputation transfers — that stifling mix of heat and boisterous fans seated on top of the court — is still unknown. But the old gym went out with a bang.
The T.C. Williams girls knocked off Westfield, 40-34, in the first Northern Region tournament quarterfinal. The Titans boys followed with an 82-55 win over Westfield. Both teams advanced to Patriot Center for region semifinals later this week.
“Physically we were in shape to do this. Mentally it got pretty hard,” said T.C. Williams junior Rachel James, whose team was playing its fifth game in as many days thanks to last week’s ice storm. “This was a game-by-game thing for us. But we made it through.”
The Titans girls were led by sophomore guard Tierra Ruffin-Pratt’s 17 points. Westfield junior forward Lauren Krizay scored a team-high 14 points. The Bulldogs, who finished their season at 20-7, actually jumped out to a 10-2 lead and did not trail until Ruffin-Pratt nailed a jumper with 2 minutes leftin the first half to put her team in front 20-18.
“That’s been our blueprint,” said T.C. Williams coach George Porcha. “We fall behind early, but we establish ourselves defensively and that can wear teams out in the end.”
Westfield hung tough with a 2-3 zone defense meant to force outside shots and keep the ball away from Ruffin-Pratt in the post. But once the Titans established a small lead in the second half they held the ball for the final 3 minutes of the third quarter and for 2 minutes midway through the fourth quarter.
Remember the Garden
» The T.C. Williams girls improved to 19-8 on the season.
» The Titans face the winner of Tuesday night’s Edison/Madison game at 6 p.m. Thursday at Patriot Center. T.C. played Edison last year for the region title and lost.
» T.C. Williams junior guard Rachel James scored 12 points with two 3-pointers.
