Behind ball or in front of camera, Gainesville's Tierra Benton ex

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Gallery of Tierra Benton, a professional model and basketball player for East Hall High in Gainesville, Ga.

When Tierra Benton, 17, isn't busy playing basketball with her East Hall High team, she spends time in front of the lenses of professional photographers.

Benton's parents say they follow her to every shoot and keep her ego grounded.

Basketball helps Benton keep her svelte physique and allows her to eat at will. One recent day she ate a sausage biscuit, two bags of spicy Cheetos, three cookies, a lunch of steak and gravy, mashed potatoes and chocolate milk, then a dinner of chicken wings and turnip greens. And more gravy.

When Benton shot up 4 inches and discovered basketball in her early teens, she also won a modeling contest at a local mall.

Local fashion photographer Drexina Nelson on Tierra Benton: "She has the drive and determination to make it. ... She'll do whatever you need her to do, and her face is awesome and she's super tall. She can fit everything. I see the world for her."

Benton's East Hall team upset Dunwoody last weekend behind her 10 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks.

Tierra Benton has a 4.07 grade-point average at East Hall High School.

Benton drives a 1978 Ford truck that's missing a window, a scene her father dubbed "Beauty and the beast."

Benton's father said he imagined his newborn daughter as a princess with a tiara. The couple spelled it Tierra, which means "earth" in Spanish.

"I used to wish I was more muscular, but I can beat most of the girls down the floor and to rebounds," Benton says.

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When Tierra Benton, 17, isn't busy playing basketball with her East Hall High team, she spends time in front of the lenses of professional photographers.

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