March 2, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - Lady Lion guard Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) capped an outstanding junior season with a selection to the All-Big Ten first team by both the coaches and the media. The junior is the 10th player in school history to earn All-Big first team honors for a total of 22 selections, the most among Big Ten schools since 1992-93. Additionally, senior guard Brianne O'Rourke (Pittsburgh, Pa.) took home postseason honors for the third time in her career with an All-Big Ten honorable mention selection by the media.
Grant joins Tina Nicholson (1994, 1995, 1996), Angie Potthoff (1995, 1996, 1997), Helen Darling (1999, 2000), Andrea Garner (1999, 2000), Maren Walseth (2000, 2001), Kelly Mazzante (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004), Tanisha Wright (2003, 2004, 2005), Jess Strom (2005) and Amanda Brown (2007) on the list of Lady Lion All-Big Ten first team recipients. Grant was an All-Big honorable mention choice each of her first two seasons in Happy Valley.
Grant, who is one of 30 players on the Naismith Award Mid-Season Candidate List, is second in the Big Ten and 17th nationally in scoring with a 19.7 average. Her scoring mark is also currently sixth on Penn State's single-season list. The junior set personal single-season marks for scoring (551), rebounding (126), steals (41), field goal percentage (.427) and free throw percentage (.764) this season. Grant was in a tight battle with Ohio State's Jantel Lavender for the Big Ten scoring title, but on the final day of the regular season Lavender inched ahead of Grant by a single points (360 to 359) to claim the crown.
Grant became the 14th junior and the 31st player overall to reach 1,000 points with an 18-point night at Florida State in December. The Youngstown, Ohio native is currently 13th on Penn State's career scoring list with 1,431 points. She is also fifth in school history in three-pointers (127) and 16th in blocks (54). Grant posted two 30-point games this season against Wisconsin and Iowa to become one of just five players in school history to have three or more 30-point games in their career (3).
O'Rourke is second in the Big Ten and is 62nd in the NCAA in overall assists per game (4.5). She also ranks 21st in the Big Ten in scoring (10.5) and third in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.44). O'Rourke, who has 12 games with five or more assists, finished in the Top 10 in the Big Ten in minutes played for the fourth consecutive season.
O'Rourke proudly continued the Point Guard U tradition during her career, becoming just the sixth player in school history to have 1,000 points and 500 assists. She is currently seventh on the all-time assists list (556) and 13th in career steals (194). She posted her first career double-double with 12 points and 13 assists in a win over Coppin State Thanksgiving weekend. Her 13 assists are the highest single-game assists total by a Penn State player since Jess Strom dished out 13 helpers against Oklahoma State on Nov. 24, 2001 and is tied for the 13th-highest single game total in school history.
The Lady Lions are the No. 8 seed in the 2009 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament and will face ninth-seeded Illinois at 5 p.m. on the Thursday, March 5 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. The winner of the 8 vs. 9 game will meet top-ranked Ohio State on Friday at 6 p.m. For information on Lady Lion Basketball tickets, call the Penn State ticket office at 814-865-5555.