Tyra is the tops: Grant named Ms. Basketball

The Ursuline standout is the first area girl to ever receive the honor.
By JOHN BASSETTI
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
Over the past few months, Tyra Grant has been on a steady climb, first as the player approaching the Valley's all-time girls scoring mark in basketball, then as the focal point of a Division III team working its way through the postseason.
On the eve of Ursuline High's state tournament appearance, the 17-year-old got news of a personal pinnacle.
"It's unbelievable, being the first in the Youngstown area to be selected for an honor of this magnitude," Grant said Wednesday after being chosen Ohio's Ms. Basketball. "This is great."
Tyra credits her selection to many people, but none more than her father and mother -- and aunt and grandmother and ...
Joe McCrae, a longtime Parks and Recreation Department director, was a standout basketball player at North High and her mother, Faith Grant, was a very good player at Chaney.
"In a way, I'm more my dad, but also a little of my mother, all-around-wise," Tyra said from Columbus not long after Ursuline arrived in preparation for today's state semifinal against Sugarcreek Garaway.
Aunt a standout at YSU
Tyra also owes a debt to her aunt, Wanda Grant, a former standout at Youngstown State. "She started helping me when I was younger," Tyra said.
Others in the retinue include AAU coaches and people at different camps she attended. Also instrumental along the way were her high school coaches.
"It helped a whole heck of a lot and being around people who know what they were talking about and those who have done what I'm trying to do," said Tyra.
The South Side youngster who was a student at Volney Rogers Junior High said she came to Ursuline in the ninth grade.
"It's a tremendous feeling," said Ursuline coach Sean Durkin. "I can't imagine a kid more deserving. She's as good a player as I've seen and she carries herself as well off the court as she does on."
Career scoring record
Entering this week, Grant has scored 2,245 high school points.
"She walked into our gym as a thin, kind of spindly girl, but worked in the weight room and became a dynamic player," said Durkin.
Grant's game blossomed from one-dimensional as a post player to all-around.
"It's a tribute to hard work and development," Durkin said. "As a freshman, she was inside as a forward, but could now play anywhere on the floor.
"She has enviable physical gifts and worked her skills to a level I haven't seen," Durkin said of his 5-foot-11 player's strength, quickness, explosiveness and leaping ability. "There's not a physical tool she lacks."
Durkin said he's appreciative to have had players the caliber of Grant, Courtney Davidson (now at Michigan State) and Cathy Hanek (YSU) as coach.
"It seems our system of play allows their games to flourish. I've been the beneficiary of their decisions. They've certainly played a big part in making our program what it is today."
Played with Davidson
Davidson is one reason Grant went to Ursuline.
"She wanted to play with Courtney," Faith Grant said, who got the opportunity for two years, including Ursuline's state championship season in 2004.
Tyra owes her grandmother something, too. Ruth Grant is Faith's mother and the person who named Tyra.
"That's my middle name," Faith Grant said. "And my mother gave me that middle name -- Faith Tyra Grant. Nobody knows that, either."
Her high school career and senior season have been unparalleled. To top it off with Ms. Basketball is indescribable.
"Every person around this area hopes to accomplish something like this if they're into basketball. I guess I proved to a lot of people that I attained my goal," said Tyra.
bassetti@vindy.com