Jan. 22, 2009
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UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. -- Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) scored 32 of Penn State's 58 points and connected on the game-winning jumper at the overtime buzzer to help the Lady Lions (8-10, 3-5) erase a 17-point second-half deficit en route to a 58-56 overtime win versus Wisconsin (14-6, 4-5) Thursday night. The junior guard, who recorded the second 30-point game of her career as she, scored 12 of PSU's 13 points in overtime.
Grant's effort was the second-highest scoring performance of her career, trailing only her 33-point game at Iowa (Feb. 18, 2007) her freshman year, and is tied for 28th on Penn State's single-game scoring charts. Her 32 tallies also mark her 10th 20-point game of the season and the 21st of her career. Grant also surpassed the 1,200-point mark for her career against the Badgers, becoming just the 23rd player in school history to accomplish the feat.
Sophomore Julia Trogele (Devon, Pa.) was the only other Lady Lion in double figures with 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting, while senior point guard Brianne O'Rourke (Pittsburgh, Pa.) added eight points, three assists and three steals. Sophomore post Evelyn Lewis (Hampton, Va.) pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds to go along with a block and a steal. Fellow sophomore Janessa Wolff (Park Rapids, Minn.) added six points and seven boards in the win.
The game was a seesaw affair in the early going as they squads were tied at 5-5 a minute and a half in, but the Badgers went on an 8-2 run to establish a 13-7 lead with 14 minutes left in the half. The Lady Lions looked poised for a run as they got a pair of Grant free throws and then produced back-to-back steals, but could only manage Grant's two tallies to make it a 13-9 game. The Badgers, who made nine of their first 12 shots, combined their hot shooting with a nearly 10-minute field goal drought by the Lady Lions to extend their lead to 12 points at 21-9 with 10 minutes on the clock.
Grant stopped the drought with a baseline layup and it looked like the Lady Lions would cut further into the lead, but Meredith Monroe (Olney, Md.) missed a layup and Teah Gant took the ball the other way and connected on her shot attempt to put the lead back to 12 points (23-11) with four minutes left. Following one free throw by Mariah Dunham, O'Rourke drained a driving layup and Grant added a layup of her own to cut the deficit to nine points at 24-15 heading into the break.
Grant paced the Lady Lions, who shot just 25.0% (6-for-24) from the field in the first half, with nine points. O'Rourke added four tallies and Evelyn Lewis (Hampton, Va.) grabbed a game-high seven points in the opening frame. The Badgers had seven players score in the opening frame and shot 47.6% (10-of-21) from the field.
The Badgers scored six of the first eight points of the second half to push the lead to 30-17 just two minutes into the closing period. Trogele connected on a 15-footer, but Wisconsin answered back with four consecutive points to take a 15-point lead (34-19). The Badgers eventually extended the lead to 17 points as the Lady Lions went four minutes without a basket from the field until Wolff converted on a rebound and layup to make it 39-24 with 13 minutes left in the game.
Following a Tara Steinbauer basket, a three-pointer by Grant jump-started a 19 -0 run over the next by the Lady Lions to thrust Penn State into the lead. After Trogele converted on a jumper, Lewis recorded a steal and found Grant on the outlet pass for the transition layup off of a nifty spin move around a Wisconsin player to make it a 10-point game (41-31) with 8:42 to play. Grant continued to take on the offensive load as she drained a jumper off of an O'Rourke pass to make it a 41-33 game with 7:52 on the clock.
The Lions continued to play tough defense and transitioned back-to-back defensive rebounds into jumpers by Wolff and O'Rourke, respectively, to slice the lead to four points (41-37) with six and a half minutes left. PSU earned a stop on the defensive end on the ensuing Wisconsin possession and turned that into a pair of Grant free throws for a two-point game. Facing a two-point deficit, O'Rourke stood at the free throw line with a chance to tie the game, but missed the front-end of a one-and-one. However, Trogele grabbed back-to-back offensive rebounds and eventually converted on a layup to tie the game at 41-41 with 4:27 on the clock. Grant capped the Lady Lion run and sent Penn State into the lead at 43-41 with 3:29 to play on a jumper.
Two Alyssa Karel free throws tied the game with three minutes remaining, but the Lady Lions had perfect execution following a 30-second timeout as Mashea Williams (Erie, Pa.) found Wolff under the basket to give Penn State a 45-43 lead with a minute and a half left. The Badgers tied the game at 45-45 on a Mariah Dunham jumper with 50 seconds left. Both squads had opportunities to end the game in regulation, but neither team was able to convert and the game moved into overtime.
In overtime, the Lady Lions forced a turnover in Wisconsin's first offensive possession and O'Rourke found a streaking Grant for a wide-open layup and a 47-45 lead just 36 seconds into the extra frame. However, the Badgers immediately responded with a bucket by Dunham. Renee Womack (Lansdale, Pa.) made one of her two free throw attempts and Grant knocked down a three-pointer with just under three minutes left to give the Lady Lions a 51-47 lead.
The Badgers responded as they scored the game's next four points to tie the game at 51-51 with just over two minutes left in the extra frame. A steal by Williams led to a layup by Grant to push the Lions in front by two, but Wisconsin rebounded with a three-pointer by Karel to take a 54-53 lead with one minute remaining. Grant put the Lady Lions back in front with a jumper off of a pass from Trogele. Grant extended the lead to 56-54 by making one of her two free throw attempts with 23 seconds remaining.
Gant evened the score again with a layup with 14 seconds left in the extra frame. Following Gant's basket, Trogele found an unguarded Grant on the in-bounds pass and Grant took the ball the length of the court until she took a jumper from the elbow that found the bottom of the net as the buzzer sounded to give the Lady Lions the 58-56 win.
GAME NOTES: Tyra Grant's 32 points are the second-highest scoring performance of her career, trailing only her 33-point game at Iowa (Feb. 18, 2007) her freshman year...She also reached the 20-point mark for the 10th time this season and 21st time in her career...Grant also surpassed the 1,200-point mark for her career against the Badgers, becoming just the 23rd player in school history to accomplish the feat...Penn State played an overtime game for the first time since the 73-71 loss to Ohio State in the 2007 Big Ten Tournament (March 4, 2007)...The Lady Lions registered 10 steals in a game for the 10th time this season...Evelyn Lewis had a career-high 12 rebounds...The Lady Lions are now 24-7 all-time against Wisconsin, including 15-1 at home...This was the 760th win in program history.
Following the game against the Badgers and its second bye date of the season, Penn State will hit the road for games at Indiana on Thursday, Jan. 29 and Iowa on Sunday, Feb. 1. The Lady Lions are back in the Bryce Jordan Center on Thursday, Feb. 5 to face Minnesota at 7 p.m. For information on Lady Lion Basketball tickets, call the Penn State ticket office at 814-865-5555.
The 2009 WBCA Pink Zone at Penn State proudly supported by Mimi Barash Coppersmith (formerly known as THINK PINK Day) will take place on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m., as the Lady Lions take on Iowa in the Bryce Jordan Center. The game can be seen on www.bigtennetwork.com. The first two Pink Zone events have raised more than $50,000 for breast cancer awareness. This year's fundraising efforts will benefit the Penn State Hershey Breast Cancer Institute, the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition and the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. For more information on the Pink Zone at Penn State, visit the official Pink Zone website at www.gopsusports.com/pinkzone.