Ruffin poised for national stage
Tiffany Ruffin didn't always realize how much of a difference there is in basketball outside of New Hampshire.
After her freshman season at Winnacunnet, when the Warriors won the state's Class L title, Ruffin took her show on the road with the New England Crusaders. But she quickly learned that basketball was a much different animal outside of her home state.
"I was blown out of my mind," said the 5-foot-8 guard from Seabrook, N.H. "My first tournament, I was like 'OK, I've definitely got to get way better.'"
She didn't waver from that attitude, putting out the work ethic and drive to become ranked among the top players in her class on a national level, coming in at No. 92, according to ESPN HoopGurlz. Next week, she will sign a national letter of intent to play for Boston College.
Ruffin also brought her new knowledge of "basketball outside of New Hampshire" back to her Winnacunnet teammates, and the Warriors are 45-2 in the past two seasons, adding two more Class L trophies to their display case.
"I tell them all the time, 'You guys have no idea what it is like playing against the top competition; it gets you so much better,'" Ruffin said. "You have to work on everything because I can compete here in New Hampshire, but when you go out there, you have to be even 100 times better."
Even with a Crusaders team that has struggled on the national scene, Ruffin has made people take notice. She gave a verbal commitment to Boston College in the spring and has brought Winnacunnet into the regional spotlight, earning a place among the ESPN RISE Fab 50's Northeast rankings.
"She's a winner," said Crusaders coach Kara Leary. "The kid's won three straight state titles and granted, it's New Hampshire, but that's 3-for-3 and she's got a good shot at going 4-for-4."
No one understands quite like Leary, a New Hampshire product who went on to be a three-year starter for Muffet McGraw at Notre Dame. After a brief professional stint in Europe, Leary got into coaching, and she led her alma mater, Nashua (N.H.), to back-to-back state titles and then took the Crusaders onto the national scene with a 2001 AAU National Championship.
"Not saying anything against New Hampshire, because I'm from there, but it's not as big as some of these other states," Ruffin explained. "So when you go out and play on a national team like this, you see how good other players are and how hard they're working. So it makes you want to get better, so you're not only the best in your state or your district, but you're considered among the best in the nation. Playing on this team definitely helps; it opens your eyes to everything."
It's also opened her eyes to having a balance. Despite wanting to be among the best, Ruffin also knows she doesn't want to risk burnout or injury due to overuse, so she adds in some non-basketball activities. Living near New Hampshire's coastline, she spends plenty of time at the beach with her friends. And occasionally she picks up a softball glove.
"When I'm not playing basketball, I'm usually at the beach," Ruffin said. "And I play softball, too. I don't really enjoy it; I just play it to do something else. Everyone needs time off from basketball, so that's why I do it."
But even the periodic break from the court hasn't kept her from breaking into the national scene, a much larger entity than her quick run over New Hampshire's top competition.
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Mindi Rice is an ESPN HoopGurlz staff writer. She previously was an award-winning sports writer at the Tacoma News Tribune and a barista at Starbucks, and grew up in Seattle, where she attended Roosevelt High School before graduating from the University of Oregon with a degree in journalism. She can be reached at mindi@hoopgurlz.com.
