University Park, Pa. — Penn State Lady Lion senior Tyra Grant (Youngstown, Ohio) and freshman Alex Bentley (Indianapolis, Ind.) took home Big Ten accolades for their outstanding performances during the 2009-10 season. Grant was named to the All-Big Ten first team for the second consecutive season by both the coaches and media, while Bentley was an All-Big Ten third team selection by the coaches and an honorable mention All-Big Ten choice by the media. Additionally, Bentley was a unanimous pick for the Big Ten All-Freshman team.
Grant is the eighth Lady Lion to garner multiple All-Big Ten first team selections, joining 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) and Tanisha Wright (2003, 2004, 2005). Grant was an All-Big honorable mention choice each of her first two seasons in Happy Valley.
The Youngstown, Ohio native, who is a semifinalist for the Naismith Player of the Year Trophy and a finalist for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, is second in the Big Ten and 20th nationally with a 18.8 scoring average this season. Grant has reached double figures in scoring in each of her last 40 games, the second-longest streak in the Big Ten. She also ranks in the Top 15 in the conference in free throw percentage (11th/.789), steals (10th/1.75), three-pointers made (12th/1.5) and minutes played (9th/33.71). She also registered her first career double-double this season against Drexel with 25 points and 11 rebounds.
Grant, who has 13 games with 20 or more points this year, is on pace to become the fourth player in school history to reach 2,000 points, needing just 26 more tallies to accomplish the feat. She is currently fifth in school history with 1,974 points and her 16.6 career scoring average is fourth in program history. Grant also ranks in the Top 10 in the Lady Lion record books in career free throws made (4th/472), three-point field goals made (5th/172), field goals (8th/665), minutes played (9th/3,740) and games started (t-10th/97).
Bentley is the ninth Penn State rookie to earn Big Ten All-Freshman team accolades, joining Helen Darling (1997), Lisa Shepherd (1998), Maren Walseth (1998), Kelly Mazzante (2001), Jess Strom (2002), Reicina Russell (2004), Brianne O'Rourke (2006) and Grant (2007).
Bentley leads the team and is fifth in the Big Ten with a 3.89 assist average. She is also among the conference leaders in scoring (17th/11.7) and field goal percentage (10th/.441). The Indianapolis, Ind. native has 19 double-digit scoring games this season, including three 20-point games. She scored 22 of her career-high 27 points in the second half and overtime, including Penn State's final seven tallies of regulation versus Purdue (1/28).
The rookie guard ranks ninth on Penn State's freshman season scoring list (328) and sixth in freshman season assists (109).
The No. 6 seed Lady Lions defeated 11th seed Minnesota in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament Thursday (March 4) and face No. 3 seed Iowa at 2 p.m. Friday, with a 2 p.m. tip on the Big Ten Network.