Nov. 5, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - Penn State Lady Lion basketball senior Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) is among the 30 candidates for the women's basketball Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. The award honors student-athletes who excel on and off the court and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition.
Grant enters her final season at Penn State as an All-America candidate after being selected to the Wooden Award preseason watch list. The Preseason All-Big Ten selection finished second in the conference and 18th in the country with a 19.6 scoring average. Her scoring mark also ranks sixth on Penn State's single-season chart. Grant also finished in the Top 10 in the Big Ten in free throw percentage (.764), three-point field goal percentage (.367) and three-pointers made per game (1.9). The senior had 15 games with 20 or more points last season en route to becoming a semifinalist for the Naismith Player of the Year award.
Grant is very active in the community, volunteering her time for various causes, including United Way Day of Caring, Easter Seals therapeutic horseback riding, Special Olympics, basketball clinics and spending time at local elementary schools. A recreation, parks and tourism management major, Grant hopes to one day own an indoor water park.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The list of 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select the candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character, community, and competition.
Lowe's will announce the Senior CLASS Award winners during the 2010 NCAA Women's Final Four in San Antonio in April.
The Lady Lions open their season with an exhibition game against Indiana (Pa.) on Sun., Nov. 8. Penn State fans that attend the Indiana football game can use their football ticket to receive buy one ticket, get one free ticket for the Lady Lions' home opener against NJIT on Sun., Nov. 15. Single game tickets can be purchased by calling the Penn State ticket office at 814-865-5555.
The 2010 WBCA Pink Zone at Penn State will take place on Sunday, Jan. 24 at 1 p.m., as the Lady Lions take on Illinois in the Bryce Jordan Center. The game can be seen on www.bigtennetwork.com. The first three Pink Zone events have raised more than $80,000 for breast cancer awareness. This year's fundraising efforts will benefit the Mount Nittany Medical Center, Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, 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.
The Lady Lions are on Twitter. Follow head coach Coquese Washington (@psucoachquese), sports information contact Kris Petersen (@ladylionsid) and the Lady Lions and assistant coaches (@pennstatewbb) to get the inside scoop. The Lady Lions are also on Facebook. Search Lady Lion Basketball and become a fan.