Hughson teen earns big time scholarship

At 5’ 11”, Taryn is what coaches call “a complete package.” She can run, recording a 57:15 clocking in the 400. She can jump, managing a 5’ 2’’ leap over the high jump bar last spring, high enough to grab a basketball rim.

“She can handle the ball, shoot outside,” added Rob Spencer, Taryn’s coach at Modesto Christian High School, “but still can bang with the best of them.”

Crashing the boards would be among Taryn’s forte, as witnessed by the section record 19 rebounds she grabbed at the Division 5 state finals at ARCO Arena last season.

Of course she has a 4.0 GPA so far this semester. And she can be pretty, flashing a smile any dentist would envy. She’s driven. She’s at school by 9 each morning and doesn’t get home till 10:30 at night. Classes end at 2:30. She studies till practice time at 7 and runs hard till 9:30. Game nights go even later.

“The sky’s the limit for her,” Spencer stated. “Like I always tell her, she’s just that physical specimen.”

That physical specimen was born to Jorge and Stephanie Garza on Nov. 19, 1992. The second of four children, Taryn claims her aunt Michelle Bettencourt as her greatest basketball influence. Bettencourt’s jersey is retired at the Hughson High gym. Back in the late ‘80s, Bettencourt took the Hughson Huskies varsity girls’ team all the way to a state championship. The young Taryn really looked up to that, at first mixing it up on the courts with older brother Jeff, his friends, their cousins and of course Aunt Michelle. Then she began emulating her aunt in Coach Ron Michael’s Hughson Youth Basketball league. She went on to play varsity ball her first year at MC, with UOP and other big schools already courting her advanced skills. She received inquiries from Pac 10 teams like UCLA and Oregon, but she settled on Stockton for various reasons. First, she gets to stay close to family and friends.

“UOP just has a great coaching staff and it’s a great campus,” she explained, “and a good education.”

Taryn has to live on campus her first two years. She’s leaning toward a liberal studies degree, perhaps graphic design. Any spare time would likely be consumed by her creative hobbies.

“I love to write – and art,” she said. “I love drawing. I do all sorts of art.”

She also does all sorts of work to improve her game. She’s modest, yet dead set on taking her team to the state championship again.

“I’ll definitely be a leader and encourage people and work my hardest to better my game,” she observed. “So I’ll go into college just being in shape and playing my hardest.”

Taryn believes she’ll get a lot of minutes on the UOP Tigers’ squad if she always plays her hardest and just does what she’s supposed to do. She thinks she’ll be steered into a shooting guard role at the collegiate level and asked to play a lot of defense.

“I have a chance, yes,” she said. “But I just want to do what’s best for the team.”