From Carnegie Mellon University Athletics
Former Carnegie Mellon University women's basketball standout Lisa Murphy has recently been named to the D3hoops.com Second Women's Basketball All-Decade Team. Murphy, who played for the Tartans from 2013-17, was selected as a third-team forward and was one of two players from the University Athletic Association (UAA) to be honored.
In 2008, D3hoops.com released its first All-Decade team to celebrate the greatest Division III men's and women's basketball players who took the court from 1997 through 2007. Those were D3hoops.com's first 10 years on the internet under the current management. The second All-Decade team should have been released two years ago, so parameters were changed to consider anyone who played at the Division III level at any point from the beginning of the 2009-10 season through the end of the 2019-20 season.
Murphy concluded her Tartan career as the first player in team history to be named an All-American by both the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and D3hoops.com, a feat she accomplished in back-to-back seasons.
Murphy's honors run deep as she finished her senior campaign as the Jostens Trophy Winner and D3hoops.com Great Lakes Player of the Year. She earned those honors after shooting an astounding 78.0% from the floor while averaging 24.3 points and 13.5 rebounds a game. It was the third time Murphy averaged more than 20 points and 10 rebounds for a season while her shooting percentage topped her previous NCAA Division III record of 75.2% set her junior year.
Murphy led the Tartans to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship as the MVP of the tournament in 2017 after pushing the Tartans to two victories during the 2016 NCAA Championship where Carnegie Mellon finished its historic run in the round of 16.
During the NCAA tournament against three top 15 teams, Murphy averaged 21.7 points and seven rebounds while shooting 75% from the floor and 77.3% from the free throw line. En route to the ECAC Championship, Murphy scored 22.3 points per game, grabbed 16.7 rebounds a game, dished out 10 assists, and blocked eight shots.
Murphy's leadership led the Tartans to a top 10 national ranking in 2017, the highest in program history. She left Carnegie Mellon as the all-time leader in points scored (2,306), rebounds (1,180), and blocks (232) and holds the NCAA All-Division record for season field-goal percentage (.780) and career field-goal percentage (.712).
Following graduation, Murphy went on to play professionally overseas becoming the first women's basketball player in Carnegie Mellon history to play professionally overseas. In her first season with Lemvig Basket of the Dameligaen, the top Danish league for women, Murphy led the team in scoring and rebounds. She averaged 21.0 points and 10.5 rebounds while shooting 72.1%. Murphy then went on to play for the Hume City Lady Broncos in Australia.