Jan. 22, 2008
By Keith Hejna, Athletic Communications Student Assistant
In high school, Tyra Grant acted in plays. She was the Pauper in The Prince and the Pauper and acted in The Snow Queen and Miss Nelson is Missing. At Penn State, the only plays she acts in are on the basketball court and she has the starring role of leading scorer for the Lady Lions.
"I have a knack for it," Grant said about making baskets. "Who can pass up scoring?"
Since junior high, she has not been able to. Though her mother, Faith Grant, first handed her energetic, three-year-old daughter a basketball to tire her out, the sport really stuck when her father, Joseph McRae, came into her life at age 11. The Youngstown YMCA was their bonding ground and basketball is what brought them together.
In the summer going into eighth grade, as she grew four and a half inches to the 5-11 stature that she stands at now, McRae groomed her talent and taught her how to score.
"He showed me that I could do this," she said. "So I kept on with it."
Grant kept on with it through high school, where she scored a Youngstown Ursuline High School record 2,292 career points wearing the number 23.
When she came to Penn State, she told herself it was time for a change. Grant surrendered number 23 and became the first Lady Lion to ever where number one. "There's never been a number one here before and that's what I want to be - number one," she said.
In her first year at Penn State, Grant led her team in scoring and earned a spot on the 2007 Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
The pressure of living up to the paradigms she set for herself in her stellar freshman season has not affected her. "It's only pressure when you put it on yourself," she said.
So far, she has not disappointed, averaging a team-leading 14.9 points per game through 16 games, which ranks seventh among Big Ten leaders.
This does not mean she has complacent with her play. "From year to year, I am constantly challenging myself to get better," she said.
One such challenge came at the beginning of the season from her new coach, Coquese Washington. "I challenged Ty to play as good defense and rebounding as she plays offense," she said.
While the rest of her game has improved, Grant still excels at putting the ball in the hoop when it counts.
"In those tight situations where we need a shot, my name is usually called," Grant said. "As long as I make it when it counts, no matter how many points I score, that's when it really matters."
Though still young and green, Grant possesses many qualities of a leader. She has the uncanny ability to use her emotions to rouse the energy of her team and the spirits of the crowd.
"That's just me. I'm an emotional person and it shows when I'm playing basketball," she said. "That's what keeps me going and what keeps the team going."
Grant's vigor on the court stems from her vibrant personality off it. Her teammates know her as the "crazy" one. "I'm always the one who will do random outbursts for no reason," she said.
Her random outbursts manifest themselves during games when her team needs them the most. Kicking it into a higher gear, she goes personal scoring runs just when things seem to be going wrong.
Though her individual efforts on the court definitely stand out, they serve more as a glue that holds the team together than a solvent that causes it to fall apart.
"No matter what, win, lose or draw, we have to stay together," she said.
Though Grant is a team player, Coach Washington recognizes her as one of the individuals on the team that has a chance at playing in the WNBA one day. Playing professionally is on Grant's list of goals, but she wishes to accomplish much more before that happens.
"I want to become All-American. I want to get my team to the next level. I want to win the Big Ten. I want to go to the Final Four," she said. "And if we win [the national championship], then I'll take that one too."