LEWISBURG -- It took a while for Tyra Grant to make her presence felt.
Sitting near the middle of the Lady Lions' bench wearing her blue warm-up shirt, the team's leading scorer could do nothing but watch.
As the Lions went back and forth with the Bucknell Bison, Grant sat with her hands on her knees. It wasn't until three minutes into the second half when Grant finally stepped on the court because coach Coquese Washington said she "decided not to play her."
While Washington said she would not elaborate on why Grant sat out the first half, the Lions (3-0) were able to quiet the crowd at the Sojka Pavilion and leave Lewisburg with a 77-62 win over the Bison (0-3) despite playing 25 minutes without the senior.
"Tyra is a threat for us because she scores a lot and she's a great player," junior Julia Trogele said. "I think they had to pay more attention to her at that point because she is our leading scorer so it opened up a lot inside."
While Grant helped lead the Lions on a 10-0 run that took less than two minutes to complete, the first half was sparked by an eight-point performance from sophomore Renee Womack. After having just four points entering the game, the guard said her team's defense helped spark her play.
The Lions out rebounded the Bison 24-21, but it was the team's play in the second half, which was aided by the addition of Grant, that helped created matchup differences.
"She's a scorer," Washington said. "It doesn't take her long to go out there and get some baskets. I thought she came off the bench and she responded to coming off the bench and being in a different role. She did what she does, which was make baskets and the defense has to be aware of where she is and that opens things up for other people."
After the Bison used a 2-3 zone for most of the first half and took away the Lions' post game, Grant entered and Bucknell temporarily switched to man coverage.
While the switch didn't faze Grant, who scored 10 points in 15 minutes of play, it helped freshman center Nikki Greene see more looks down low. Greene finished the game with 11 points, six of which came in the second half.
The Bison defense was focused on slowing down and double teaming Grant, which made the Lions look to get points in the paint.
Bison coach Kathy Fedorjaka said her young team, which boasts five freshmen, may have looked like they even switched into a 3-2 zone during part of the second half because Grant's play caused them such confusion.
"She's so athletic, she's so strong," Fedorjaka said. "Her presence certainly is huge, the physical attributes she brings to the table are probably the biggest challenge she poses."
Fedorjaka said Grant is just a "different level of athlete" out on the court and that her play created many matchup problems for the Bison.
After Grant helped the Lions stretch their lead to 20 points, Washington felt her team became a bit complacent and gave the Bison too many opportunities to score. She said her team seemed a bit sluggish and didn't close the game particularly well.
"I think that we need to pick up our intensity and put a lot more effort into what we do," Trogele said. "Yeah we beat them but we're going face a lot more talented teams and a lot stronger teams, so we need to pick it up on our part."
