Lizanne Murphy
Lizanne Murphy (born 15 March 1984) is a Canadian professional basketball player. She plays for Canada women's national basketball team. She competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics Pam Am games 2015 Murphy was a member of the Canada women's national basketball team which participated in basketball at the 2015 Pan American Games held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada 10 to 26 July 2015. Canada opened the preliminary rounds with an easy 101–38 win over Venezuela. The following day they beat Argentina 73–58. The final preliminary game was against Cuba; both teams were 2–0, so the winner would win the group. The game went down to the wire with Canada eking out a 71–68 win. Canada would face Brazil in the semifinal. Everything seemed to go right in the semifinal game. Canada opened the game with an 11–2 run on seven consecutive points by Miranda Ayim. Miah-Marie Langlois contributed five assists. In the third quarter Canada strongly out rebounded Brazil and hit 69% of their field goals to score 33 points in the quarter. Murphy and Nirra Fields hit three-pointers to help extend the lead to 68–39 at the end of three-quarters. Canada continued to dominate in the fourth quarter with three-pointers by Kia Nurse and Kim Gaucher. Canada went on to win the game 91–63 to earn a spot in the gold-medal game against the USA. The gold-medal game matched up the host team Canada against USA, in a sold-out arena dominated by fans in red and white and waving the Canadian flag. The Canadian team, arm in arm, sang Oh Canada as the respective national anthems were played. After trading baskets early the US edged out to a double-digit lead in the second quarter. However the Canadians, spurred on by the home crowd cheering, fought back and tied up the game at halftime. In the third quarter, it was Canada's time to shine as they outscore the US 26–15. The lead would reach as high as 18 points. The USA would fight back, but not all the way and Canada won the game and the gold-medal 81–73. It was Canada's first gold-medal in basketball in the Pan Am games. Nurse was the star for Canada with 33 points, hitting 11 of her 12 free-throw attempts in 10 of her 17 field-goal attempts including two of three three-pointers. Achonwa contributed three points. Professional career Murphy has played professionally in Finland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Poland and France, and is currently playing for Union Féminine Angers Basket 49 in France. Honours In 2012 Murphy was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Hofstra University statistics Source References 1984 births Living people Basketball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2015 Pan American Games Basketball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Montreal Canadian expatriate basketball people in France Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian women's basketball players Forwards (basketball) Hofstra Pride women's basketball players Olympic basketball players for Canada Pan American