P15
August 2012
S
amantha Murphy
is still putting up big
numbers and making it look easy, although
she insists the newest phase of her life is
anything but that.
A 97 score on a recent exam in her postgraduate
studies to become a physician assistant compares
favorably with the high marks she posted in the
classroom and on the basketball court at GCU.
But Murphy says beating a Dixie State double team
was never this challenging.
“This is the hardest schooling I’ve ever had,” says
Murphy, 23, who began at Midwestern University
in June. “It’s like medical school condensed into
two years.”
GCU’s career leading scorer for women’s basketball
(2,147 points in four years) played professionally
in Iceland in 2011-12 before returning home to
begin at Midwestern. She’s living on the Glendale
campus and finding most of her waking hours
consumed by books, taking difficult classes in
anatomy and biochemistry.
If all goes according to plan, she will graduate in
2014 with a master’s degree in physician assistant
studies and take her boards shortly thereafter.
“I feel more and more confident I made the right
choice (for a career),” says Murphy, who was an
Academic All-American at GCU. “The work is hard
and daunting, but it’s a part of the process. I’m pretty
confident I’ll enjoy this as a career.”
Her break with basketball may have been made
easier by playing for a losing team in Iceland.
Although she was the team’s leading scorer and
enjoyed the experience of living overseas for six
months, she felt it was time to be done.
“It wasn’t that we lost,” she says, “it was that people
were OK with it. The culture is so different.
Americans are where we are in basketball because
we’re so competitive. You lose your passion for the
game playing with people who aren’t (that way).
“I wish I could play basketball forever the way it was
in college.”
The Antelopes went 29-3 in 2010-11, advancing to
the NCAA Division II Sweet 16 before losing to Cal
Poly Pomona. Murphy, a 5-foot-8 guard, averaged
24.6 points and was named Division II Player of the
Year, leaving an indelible mark as a student-athlete.
In her four years, the GCU women went 83-33.
She says the lessons she learned from the University
weren’t all in the classroom.
“Because I played a sport, I’ve become an expert on
time management,” she says, “and I can easily focus.
That’s just as valuable as the education itself, and
it’s probably the most important takeaway for me
from GCU.
“Athletes know how to commit to something, and I
think that’s why they do well (at other things).”
It’s possible that the Antelope women’s basketball
program will see another Murphy soon. Samantha’s
younger sister,
Vanessa
, is a freshman this fall at St.
Mary’s High School in Phoenix – and she’s already
5-foot-11.
“She’s got work ethic in her genes,” Samantha says.
“She’ll be a different player than I was.
“I love coaching her and helping her. I had my time
and enjoyed it and made the most of it.”
Time-management
skills acquired as a
GCU student-athlete
have paid off for
Samantha Murphy
in her postgraduate
studies.
