Since the age of 12, Tyra Grant's life has been basketball.
Fast-forward nine years and the Lady Lions' senior guard is winding down one of the most storied careers in the program's history.
A career that includes 116 games, 1,945 points and 196 assists.
A career that led to Grant being named to both the Naismith and Wooden award preseason watch lists this season.
And a career that includes three All-Big Ten awards in three seasons.
While Grant's first three seasons at Penn State didn't end in the kind of fashion she would have liked, this season looks like it could be different.
After suffering through three losing seasons, Grant and her teammates are guaranteed a winning record this season. The team also still has a legitimate shot at a NCAA tournament berth, which would be the program's first since 2005.
But Grant's concern at the moment is one game.
Grant will run on to the Bryce Jordan Center floor tonight for the final time as a Lady Lion when Penn State hosts Wisconsin. Then, Grant will be forced to think back on her career.
A career that she said really started 21 years ago in Youngstown, Ohio.
An energetic child
Tyra Grant could never sit still as a child. For that reason, her mother, Faith Grant, had to constantly make sure her daughter had something to do.
Whether it was swimming lessons, little league or community theatre, Faith always had to find a way to keep Tyra entertained. While most young children have seemingly endless amounts of energy, Tyra had a little more than most.
"She was busy all the time," Faith Grant said. "That's from like the age of 2 or 3. That was natural, but I feel like she was a little bit more than the norm."
Tyra's need to constantly be doing something wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It just took a physical toll on her mother.
Faith remembers having to take Tyra to the park almost every day just to tire her out . And she isn't afraid to admit that Tyra had to be the center of attention, thus the community theatre.
In short, raising Tyra Grant was a full-time job.
"I couldn't have other children because of that," Faith Grant said, laughing. "That's how she became the only child, because she was a busy girl."
But with all of the activities Tyra Grant experienced as a child, one started to stand out above all the rest -- basketball.
To hear her mother describe it, Tyra took to basketball like a natural.
After all, it was in her blood.
Family basketball ties
Faith's sister and Tyra's aunt, Wanda Grant, was a standout basketball player at Youngstown State from 1977-81.
When Wanda Grant left Youngstown State, she did so as the school's all-time leader in points, with 1,829. She led the Penguins to a 60-21 record during her four years and four-straight appearances in the Ohio Association of Intercollegiate Sports for Women playoffs.
She still ranks in the top-10 in every scoring and rebounding category in the school's record book.
When Wanda saw her niece take a liking to basketball, she jumped at the opportunity to mentor her. Wanda described Tyra as an excellent listener who loved the game and who wasn't afraid to go out and mix up it up with the boys at a young age.
"I coached a men's basketball team for 15 years at the Buckeye Elks Youth Center and [Tyra] was there," Wanda Grant said. "She was always there working with the guys."
Wanda played just one year of high school basketball because Youngstown didn't have girls' basketball in its schools before 1977. But she still earned a full scholarship to Youngstown State.
She sees a lot of the same hard work and determination she had to put in as a player when she watches her niece suit up for the Lions. But the most glaring similarity Wanda sees between her and Tyra is their competitiveness.
"Her ultimate goal is to win," Wanda Grant said. "Understanding that you're not gonna win every game, but as long as you compete and leave it all out there on the court, you're good."
When teammates and coaches talk about Tyra Grant, it's hard not to bring up the word "competitor." But that doesn't come as a surprise to her mother or her aunt.
That too is something that runs in Tyra's blood. Faith said it comes from Tyra's father.
Basketball as a bond
For the first 12 years of her life, Tyra Grant did not have a relationship with her father.
For reasons neither she nor her mother cared to explain, Tyra grew up with just her mother. But that all changed when Tyra started playing basketball.
Tyra's father, Joseph McRae, was an All-American in basketball at Ashland College in 1976 and 1977. When his daughter started taking an interest in basketball, he started taking an interest in developing her skills as a player.
But the two also took it as an opportunity to mend a relationship.
"That's where me and my father connected," Tyra Grant said. "That's what we shared."
Tyra didn't take her father's sudden interest in her basketball career easily at first. Faith said it took her daughter a while to understand all of the circumstances surrounding her father's absence from the first 12 years of her life.
Once Tyra got over the initial confusion, though, it was evident the time spent with her father was making her a better basketball player.
But as Tyra progressed as a basketball player, the relationship with her father started to change. What started as a way for a father and daughter to bond turned into a competition when the student started to outplay the teacher.
"It was nice at first, and then it became more competitive," Faith Grant said about the relationship between Tyra and her father. "She became a lot better at developing her basketball skills, so he wanted to push that as far as he could."
While the situation may have been trying at times, there is no denying that Tyra became a better basketball player for it. And there's no denying that it prepared her for what would happen just a few years later.
State champs and choosing Penn State
It didn't take Tyra Grant very long to find success as a high school basketball player.
Her high school, Youngstown Ursuline, made it to the state championship in 2004. Behind a game-leading 22 points from Grant, the Fighting Irish defeated Oak Hill 66-52.
Grant remembers the road to the state championship vividly, but one game stuck out even more than the state title game. It came early in the tournament against rival Regina High School from Cleveland, a team that Grant said her school had struggled against in the past.
Youngstown Ursuline and Regina met in the Division III Cuyahoga Falls Regional. The Irish came away with a 66-52 victory over a Regina team that had won the previous four state championships.
For Grant, beating Regina and ultimately winning the state championship was a testament to how hard work can pay off.
"It was a great feeling to finally be able to accomplish something like that because so many people doubted you," Grant said.
The high level of competition in high school is something that Grant relished. And it's something she wanted to continue in college.
When it came time to pick a school, some big names came calling. Schools like Louisville and Ohio State. Even legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer and her Rutgers program expressed interest in the guard.
But one event opened Grant's eyes and made her realize that Penn State was the place for her.
It was the 2005 Penn State vs. Ohio State football game at Beaver Stadium that made Grant want to be a Nittany Lion. The game that many associate with the re-birth of the Penn State football program was also the game that netted the women's basketball program one of its most highly touted recruits.
It wasn't so much the outcome of the game that got to Grant. It was the environment.
"It was the fan support that got me," Grant said. "To be on that field and to see all of that around you, that was amazing."
Grant was hoping she would get that same kind of fan support as a member of the Lady Lions. And despite team struggles early in her career, she feels the team got the kind of support she envisioned.
An unforeseen change
Tyra Grant made an impact immediately at Penn State.
In her freshman season, she led the team in scoring despite starting in just 15 of the team's 31 games.
On Feb. 18, 2007, Grant had the best game of her career. In a 79-72 loss on the road against Iowa, the freshman guard scored a career-high 33 points. Despite the loss, the game is still one that sticks out in Grant's mind to this day.
"Their coach wasn't too happy with me, but I was excited," Grant said. "I felt like everything was clicking that day, and I was hot. Everything was coming together."
The game against the Hawkeyes came toward the end of the season, and it was a game Grant was hoping to build on heading into her sophomore season.
But then the unexpected happened.
Lady Lions' coach Rene Portland stepped down. Amid allegations of discrimination, the 27-year head coach of the Lions sent in her resignation. For some, the resignation seemed long overdue, but to Grant, it came as a shock.
Portland was the person who recruited Grant. During their first year together, the legendary coach and her star freshman shooting guard formed a bond that Grant was hoping would lead to better things for the Lady Lions program and for herself.
"For me it was really hard," Grant said about Portland's departure. "I really took a liking to Rene. We connected and we had a plan."
That plan was to make Tyra Grant one of the greatest players in the program's history. To make Grant's name synonymous with Kelly Mazzante, Tanisha Wright and Helen Darling.
The summer after their first year together, Portland and Grant had planned to study tape of former Lady Lion greats so that Tyra could learn from them. They had planned to sit down with then-assistant coach and former Lady Lion Annie Troyan to watch film of Mazzante.
Tyra's mother saw the impact that Portland's resignation had on her daughter. She remembers talking to Tyra about the change and how difficult it was for her to understand why things were happening the way they were.
"It was extremely hard," Faith Grant said. "Everything that [Tyra] learned about basketball was changed. Everything that she knew to be true was changed."
Portland's departure hit Grant hard, but almost exactly one month later Grant had a new situation to deal with. She and her teammates had a new coach.
A new era
Grant admittedly was a bit weary of how Coquese Washington would handle the team when she took over the reigns in 2007. For that reason, Grant and the first-time head coach didn't get off on the best foot.
"I had my immediate guard up with Coach 'Quese, but eventually I started to break that down," Grant said. "We still have our battles, but we have a great relationship."
The Lions struggled in Washington's first two years. Penn State had a record of just 24-36, including a stretch in 2007-08 when the team lost its final 12 games of the season.
But this season has been different thanks to both Grant and Washington. Grant has continued her torrid scoring in the Big Ten while Washington has used her recruiting skills to bring in young talent to compliment her shooting guard.
The result thus far is a 16-10 record and a tie for third place in the Big Ten. But it is evident that, at times, Grant and Washington still butt heads. Like earlier this season when Grant was benched for the first half of a game against Bucknell for unspecified reasons. Or in a 20-point win against Northwestern where Grant didn't start.
It doesn't come as a surprise to her mother that Grant and her coach don't always see eye-to-eye.
"Tyra will butt heads with anyone," Faith Grant said. "She'll butt heads with me. I don't doubt that."
But Faith and Tyra both said that stems from the fact that Tyra always wants to be on the floor. She feels her team has the best chance to win when she is in the game.
Grant likes the attention the defense gives her. She sees it as an opportunity for her teammates to get open looks. She doesn't mind driving to rim and dishing off to her teammates. Just like she did in the team's last game against Michigan when Grant drew two defenders and fed teammate Marisa Wolfe under the basket for an easy two late in the game.
Though the score sheet may not always indicate it, Tyra said she likes to pass. She wants to get her teammates involved, and she wants the defense to have to guard other players on the court with the same tenacity they guard her.
"She likes to pass that ball," Wanda Grant said about her niece. "She respects her players, and I see a lot of unselfishness when she passes that ball."
Under Washington, Grant has become one of the most decorated players in the program's history. But there is still one more goal Grant wants to accomplish.
Last chance
It's all Tyra Grant ever wanted.
All she wants to do is play in the NCAA tournament. Three years ago that might not have seemed like a realistic goal, but now the Lions find themselves in the position to play themselves into the tournament.
It's difficult for Grant's face not to light up when she thinks about the prospect of playing for an NCAA championship.
It's something that both her and Washington have been striving for since the coach set foot in on Penn State's campus, and the dream is close to becoming a reality.
"It would mean so much to me, this team and this university to know that we finally did it," Grant said. "That even though the past wasn't as bright as everybody might have liked, we were able to fight through it."
For Grant's family, a tournament berth would be a fitting ending to a career that has seen so many ups and downs. For Grant's mother, it would be exciting to see her daughter go out on higher level than she's ever been before.
For Grant, it would be a chance for her to leave her mark on program and a university that she has grown to love in the past four years. It would be an opportunity to show her younger teammates what it takes to make it to the top.
"Just to show them this is how you do it," Grant said. "This is how you get here."
But before the Lions can make the NCAA tournament, there are still two more games left. And for Grant and her senior teammates there is one more chance to leave it all out on the floor of the BJC.
One final game
Grant isn't sure what she'll be feeling before Thursday's game against Wisconsin. She knows it will be emotional, but she isn't quite sure what to expect just yet.
All of the pregame pomp and circumstance will be there. Her family will also be there as Faith, Wanda and other members of the Grant family will be in attendance. There to watch Tyra play for one last time in State College.
Faith Grant said the game will be an emotional moment for her as well, but it's one she's been waiting for. She feels its time her daughter to move on.
"At the same time, it's a sweet thing because she did it," Faith Grant said. "She did her job there, and I'm happy for her, but I think it's time for her to move on to the next level of her life."
The Grant family hopes that next level will include a selection in the WNBA draft. Tyra has hinted at aspirations to play professionally but said her focus right now is still on Penn State and making the tournament.
But the rest of her family is excited for what the future might hold for Tyra.
"She's gonna be a better professional basketball player than she was high school or collegiate," Wanda Grant said.
Wanda, who also had pro aspirations after graduating college, feels the speed of the professional game is better suited to Tyra's style of play. She also thinks the experience of some of the older players in the league will be helpful in developing Tyra as a basketball player.
But whatever the future may hold for Tyra Grant, she will always remember her time as a Lady Lion. She will remember all of the practices, the career-highs and the career-lows.
Most of all, Grant said she will remember the moments off the court. The community service and the time spent with her teammates are what she will take with her when she leaves.
And she hopes that people will remember her not only for her accomplishments on the court, but for the type of person she was off of it.
"I don't wanna have a legacy of just, 'She was a basketball player,' " Grant said. "I wanna be remembered as a person that did other things. A person that was able to excel in the classroom and able to be a good person."
