2017 Jostens Trophy Winner
"Lisa is the epitome of the 'All-American' role model... She is a selfless individual who puts the needs of others before her own. She has a 'team first' mindset and is incredibly humble about her individual talents and contributions to the success of our team" said Carnegie Mellon head women's basketball coach Jacquie Hullah.
Murphy, a native of McLean, Va., has established herself as the best player in Carnegie Mellon history, and sits amongst the greatest players in the history of the University Athletic Association (UAA) and Division III as a whole. Murphy is the UAA career scoring leader with 2,306 points. She averaged more than 20 points and 10 rebounds for the third straight year in 2016-17, while leading the nation in field goal percentage (78.0%) for the third consecutive year. She is one of only eight players in Division III history to record 2,000 career points, 1,000 career rebounds, and 200 career blocks. Murphy was named a First Team All-America by the WBCA and D3hoops.com in 2016 and was named the UAA Player of the Year in 2016 and 2017. Murphy was also named the 2017 Great Lakes Region Player of the Year.
One of the most impressive feats of Murphy's career at Carnegie Mellon is the transformation of the basketball program. In 2015-16 she helped lead the program to its first winning season since 2002-03 and first NCAA tournament appearance since 1990-91 where the Tartans advanced to the sectional semifinal for the first time in school history. In her four years, the Tartans are a combined 66-40, compared to a 33-68 record the four years prior. The 2016-17 Tartans finished as the ECAC Champions and tied the school record for wins in a season with 21.
In the classroom, Murphy maintains a 3.84 cumulative grade point average as a psychology major. She is the vice president of Psi Chi, the psychology honor society, and she was elected to the academic honor society, Phi Beta Kappa. In 2016 Murphy was named a First Team Academic All-America, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). In 2017, CoSIDA named her the Academic All-American of the Year.
In addition to her academic and athletic exploits, Murphy has been very active in the community. As a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council, she has led initiatives such as the annual Field Day and Thanksgiving food drives. She also organized and ran a 3v3 event for Special Olympics, which included managing more than 100 athletes, parents and coaches. Murphy helps clean up local trails along the riverfront and she has joined forces with First Trinity Homeless Ministry to deliver lunches to the homeless near campus.
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