Thirty seconds into the game, Tyra Grant lined up with her feet behind the 3-point line, fired a shot and watched the ball bounce off the rim and into the hands of a defender.

Although she was the first Lady Lion to miss a 3-point shot, she wasn't the last.

By the end of the game the Lady Lions missed 13 more times from 3-point range against Indiana University (Pa.) in last Sunday's exhibition contest.

"I didn't think we shot the ball very well inside or outside," coach Coquese Washington said. "I'm not really happy with our shooting percentage. We shot 41 percent and I think we should shoot better."

Though 3-point shooting was a difficulty for the team the last few seasons and in the team's exhibition game, the Lady Lions expect improvement heading into this season.

While shooting 41 percent overall against IUP may not have pleased Washington, it looked good in comparison to the team's 13 percent 3-point average.

With the team's season opener against Drexel University on Friday, Grant said the Lady Lions aren't worried about shooting only 1-for-15 from behind the arc against IUP.

"You need to pick your poison," said IUP coach Jeff Dow after playing Penn State. "I would just assume to give them some long jump shots as opposed to letting them pound it inside or take us off the dribble. Our feeling was that, 'Hey, if they beat us with threes all night long, tip your hat.' "

The 3-point shooting struggles the team experienced in the exhibition were nothing new for the Lady Lions as that area of the team's game has been a weakness in recent history.

For instance, the team shot 124-for-403 from long distance last year, and 125-for-412 the year before.

However, Washington believes this season can be different for Penn State.

"I think we've got some good shooters," she said. "Zhaque [Gray] has come back, and she's shooting the ball very well for us. Ty is a very good 3-point shooter as well, and Gizelle [Studevent] is shooting the ball. She is a good outside shooter, and I think she'll be able to shoot the 3-ball for us."

Grant agreed with her coach and added that she is not concerned about the shooting performance displayed during the exhibition.

"We have a lot of good shooters on our team," Grant said. "That's not going to happen very often."

However, last season's statistics are not very promising for the Lady Lions.

As a junior, Grant was the only player to make more than 50 shots from long range. After her, Gray is the only player returning who made more than 10 threes last year.

The rest of the returning players who will see time on the court combined for a grand total of five 3-pointers last season.

Washington is still excited about the other possibilities the team has this year.

She said that Julia Trogele, Marisa Wolfe and Renee Womack have all improved their outside shots during the offseason and should all play a role this year.

Washington also added that the addition of freshman Nikki Greene in the post will help draw defenders and open up some shots from downtown.

"I think we've got some options," Washington said. "And if we have it, we'll take it."