Mercury Drafts Penn State Guard Tyra Grant With 24th Pick

If there had to be one negative to the Mercury’s acquisition of Candice Dupree last week, it would probably just be the subsequent waiting around on draft day.

Trading away their first-round pick as part of the deal to get the talented forward, Phoenix selected Penn State’s Tyra Grant with their second-round selection in the WNBA Draft Thursday. Second in Big Ten scoring last year, the 5-foot-11 guard finished her career with the Lady Lions as the program’s third all-time scorer (2,044 points), averaging 16.7 ppg, four boards and 1.7 apg on 39-percent shooting from the field in 121 career games.

“We were looking for a slasher,” Mercury Head Coach Corey Gaines said, “somebody who can score in the open court, and Tyra’s definitely an open-floor player. She has good size, can finish at the basket and the way she finishes… She goes through people to get the basket – not around them. She’s like a running back going through the hole. She takes the hit and finishes.”

Penn State’s top scorer in all four seasons of her collegiate career, Grant was the seventh Lady Lion to take home Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American honors after making the All-Big Ten First Team in 2010, averaging 19.1 ppg, 4.9 rpg, and two assists this past season.

Now the guard will get a taste of the Mercury’s run-first system, which she said, has some simillarities to the one employed by Lady Lions Head Coach Coquese Washington.

“I’m used to running,” Grant told PhoenixMercury.com, “but I’ve played in both styles of offense. My freshman year, it was a transition offense under Coach Rene Portland, but we would also set up in the halfcourt to do things, as well. Later on, it was different. Coach Washington was more up-tempo. ‘Let’s press and get up and down the court. Let’s get steals and play defense.’ So, our team mantra became ‘defense, rebound and go’ at Penn.”

Before taking Grant as the 24th overall pick, Mercury General Manager Ann Meyers Drysdale admitted she wasn’t exactly surprised by the early draft-day selections of her counterparts around the league, but she was impressed with Connecticut’s first-round trifecta via a trade with Minnesota.

“No luck in Tina Charles dropping to No. 24,” the GM joked. “I can’t believe it (laughs). But with Tina going No. 1, that was no surprise. The trade probably surprised a lot of people as far as Kelsey Griffin going to Connecticut. They are getting younger and got three first-round picks with Danielle McCray. They’ll be young and athletic. L.A. got Andrea Riley, who’s the best guard coming out this year. That will help them in the backcourt.”

As for their newest guard seeing major minutes in the Mercury backcourt in her impending WNBA rookie season, the Phoenix GM does admit that may be a tall order when joining a defending championship roster – even for a proven scorer like the 21-year-old Grant.

“We have our core group,” Meyers Drysdale said. “We’ve got Candice, who we’re really excited about. That’s like a first-round pick anyway. We have a solid eight players. It’s hard to beat out Penny Taylor and Diana Taurasi, Temeka Johnson and Tangela Smith, but we know that whoever comes into camp, it’s important to have them because we’ve had games where players have gotten hurt or games where players have been suspended. We’ll need our whole bench.”

Grant persevered in a similar situation as a freshman at Penn, so a little déjà vu in terms of starting from scratch in Phoenix is expected and very much welcomed, especially when it comes to learning from the likes of Taurasi and Co.

“That’s a great group of veterans right there to take you under their wing, mentor you and steer you in the right direction,” Grant said. “I started my college career under great vets who were ahead of me. I was able to learn, sit back and absorb everything. I was a sponge, so when it came time for me to break away as they left, I was ready to do what I needed to do. I had the knowledge and experience to get it done. Hopefully, that will be the same case in Phoenix.

“It’s great that the No. 1 team, the reigning champs, picked me. They saw something in me… the potential to do great things to help the program. I’m overwhelmed by the emotions right now, but I’m forever grateful for them to give me the opportunity to go and fulfill my destiny.”

Mercury Selects Oklahoma’s Stevenson in Third Round

The WNBA Draft concluded with the Mercury selecting guard-forward Nyeshia Stevenson with the 36th and final pick.

Averaging 8.7 ppg, 2.1 rpg and 43-percent shooting from the field in her collegiate career, the 5-foot-10 Oklahoma alum was selected to the All-Big 12 Second Team this past season after helping lead the Sooners to the Final Four of the NCAA Women’s Championship tournament. She was named Most Outstanding Player of the Kansas City Regional after she hit a game-winning three-pointer in overtime against Notre Dame and scored 31 points against Kentucky to send Oklahoma to the Final Four. The Little Rock, Ark. native showed big-game ability as she averaged a team-high 19.8 points in four postseason games, after finishing the 2009-10 season with averages of 13.9 points and rebounds in 33 games.