Former Londonderry superstar Murphy dominating early for BC
Ryan Lambert
Stefanie Murphy is off to a fast start at Boston College, even by her lofty standards.
The former Eagle-Tribune MVP and Londonderry hoops legend has turned in several incredible performances already this season. Despite her long track record of success at every level of the game, this has taken everyone by surprise.
The 6-4 freshman at the Heights has quickly made an indelible mark for BC, posting big numbers and earning ACC Rookie of the Week honors twice in a row, and the MVP award at the recent Northwestern Tournament in Chicago.
"I knew I was going to make some impact freshman year," she said. "It's a big transition from high school to college and I don’t think anyone could expect it. It’s worked out well, though. I always had expectations of where I wanted to be at the beginning of the year. I was hoping to be first or second off the bench, but this was a big jump."
Murphy is averaging a double-double with just three starts under her belt. Her 18.9 points and 10.6 rebounds per game both lead the team. She is also shooting far better than the rest of the Eagles, posting a .625 percentage from the floor and .667 from the line. Better, still, she's third overall in the ACC in points per game and second in rebounds per game. She's done all this without even being in the top 30 in minutes per game.
"I’m a little surprised how much she’s had this early in the scoring aspect," said Londonderry coach John Fagula, who has made a few trips down to Chestnut Hill to see his former star play. "The tendency is to not take a lot of shots or be aggressive as a freshman. For her to jump in and treat it like that, doesn’t surprise me, though. She’s in excellent shape, better than in high school, and that’s allowed her to get up and down the floor. The college game is so much more physical, so you need to be able to do that. Sometimes the thing that surprises you is if her teammates can get the ball where it’s supposed to go. Sometimes guards at the college level don’t really know you need to use an inside game when you have it.”
Murphy has also established herself as a vocal leader on the floor, another rarity among freshmen. Fagula said she can often be seen barking orders at her teammate and directing traffic from down low.
"I just carry that from high school and AAU," she said, as though it were in no way extraordinary. "It’s still the game of basketball and I’ve fixed the bad habits and kept the good ones. No matter where you go you’re still playing basketball."
Murphy is one of three freshman that are currently starting for the Eagles; one in particular has helped her quite a bit. Carolyn Swords, a 6-6 center out of Lincoln-Sudbury, has drawn the attention of the bigger players on the other team, allowing Murphy a little more space to shoot.
While she came off the bench for the first few games, Murphy began cementing her starting spot in BC's game against Delaware.
"Something clicked that game," she said.
Not only did she post the first of her four double-doubles, leading BC with 26 points and 16 rebounds, but she also sank the game-winning basket at the buzzer, giving BC a 53-51 victory. That, she noted, was her "welcome to the NCAA" moment.
"It was a regular out-of-bounds play that we run," she said. "We wanted an outside shot. Ayla (Brown) took it and I happened to be on the weakside rebound. It was really a putback. It was crazy. I don’t think that in my whole career I’ve ever had a game-winning shot that close to the end. Maybe I hit one with a minute left that ended up being the game-winner in high school, but never anything like that."
