Basketball
Favorite athlete: Paige Beckers
Favorite team: Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating CB West in our last game
Most embarrassing thing that has happened while competing in sports: Having four points as a team at halftime
Music on playlist: Country
Future plans: Major in Biology at Elizabethtown College
Words to live by: “Let the past be and focus on the future.”
One goal before turning 30: I want to travel
One thing people don’t know about me: I like to read
By Mary Jane Souder
Samantha Murphy was the perfect fit as captain.
Granted, the Pennridge senior was not the most vocal. As a matter of fact, she might be considered quiet, but when it came to leadership, Murphy – according to her coach – was the best kind of leader. That much was confirmed during the Lady
Rams’ 4-18 basketball season this winter.
“When you’re 4-18, it’s easy to go downhill,” Pennridge coach Jason Rapp said. “She never did, our kids never did. I give her a lot of credit because coaches’ voices go away, but they played for their teammates, and it says a lot for them, it says a lot for her.”
Murphy – the team’s only captain - is a competitor and likes to win as much as anyone, and she acknowledges there were some tough times.
“The start of the season was kind of rough, but our first win against Faith kind of sparked something in us,” Murphy said of the Rams’ 44-42 win over Faith Christian Academy in mid-December. “We were like, ‘Wait, we can actually do this,’ and then things started to click.
“I feel like the whole team - instead of throwing in the towel – we all kind of dug into the ground a little bit more.”
And it was Murphy playing a major role in keeping the environment positive.
“I encouraged my teammates, and I tried to focus on - even if we weren’t winning, we were still playing hard on defense and finding smaller things to focus on that could help improve our team or try and keep people’s spirits up,” Murphy said.
Rapp had the unique opportunity to observe Murphy through the eyes of his two young daughters, who are on the team.
“They would always talk about how she knew when there needed to be a joke said or they needed a calming influence,” Rapp said. “Especially because we as coaches didn’t see that, and she just always was fantastic with the other players. Talk about someone who led by example – she was great.”
Making Murphy’s contributions even more significant was the fact that she was the lone senior, but she had plenty of time getting used to that since she’s been the only player in her grade on the basketball team for the last three years.
“I played with one of the girls pretty much my whole life, so it was a little different not playing with her,” Murphy said. “But I had a lot of friends that were the grade above me, and it didn’t really bother me too much.”
Murphy arrived on the high school scene the same year as Rapp.
“She was at every open gym,” the Rams’ coach said. “The banquet last week hit a little different because Murph was always there, and now she’s not. Her parents were great – they brought her every time.
“She was just one of those kids that was quiet as a freshman and had a little bit more of a voice and was a bit more of a leader on the JV team as a sophomore. Quiet again as a junior being a starter on the varsity. She played hard, but her best leadership was probably in the locker room and on the bus and away from the court. She was like a big sister to everybody, and all the girls looked up to her. She was great.”
Back to the beginning
It’s always been basketball for Murphy. She did try soccer, but that was short-lived.
“Soccer was my sister’s sport,” she said. “I’ve been all basketball. I started in intramurals and then I went to Deep Run and did travel for a while. I did AAU basketball and then high school.
“My dad (Greg Murphy) used to play basketball, and he coached me for a while, so he kind of drove it.”
When she arrived at high school, Murphy initially was a swing player as a freshman and sophomore and has fond memories of the Rams’ home game in the District 1 6A Tournament her freshman year.
“It was a lot of energy, and it was a rush to be on that team even if I didn’t get in the game,” she said.
Junior and senior year, Murphy was a fixture in the varsity lineup.
“As a junior, she became our lockdown defender,” Rapp said. “We were able to make the district playoffs, and she played a huge role in that.”
Murphy also was a sharpshooter from beyond the arc, connecting on six 3s in a game against Central Bucks South. For the season, the senior captain had 53 3s, which Rapp believes could be a school record for a single season.
“Our story with Sam was – when we came out of halftime last year and this year, we’d say, ‘All right, Sam, right corner or left corner?’ because we were going to run a play for her to get a 3,” Rapp said. “We knew if we got her going, we were in good hands for that half. She had some really good runs with hitting some 3s.”
As endings go, Murphy and her Lady Ram teammates had a good one, turning the tables on a Central Bucks West team that defeated them earlier in the season with a 61-41win in their final game of the season. Murphy was one of three players in double figures and buried three 3s.
“It just showed that we really could do it, and my team didn’t give up,” Murphy said. “We just played together, and we played to have fun in the last game, and it turned out pretty well.”
Moving on
This fall, Murphy will be attending Elizabethtown College where she will major in biology.
“I visited a lot of schools, and Elizabethtown just felt homey and had a vibe to it that was just like – I feel like I could go to
school here,” she said. “Their biology program is also strong, so that helped a lot.”
She is not planning to play basketball at the collegiate level although Rapp is a firm believer she could.
“If she showed up on the first day of tryouts, that coach would be extremely happy,” he said.
Murphy hasn’t ruled out playing intramurals and will certainly play some pickup.
“It’s definitely going to be weird not having basketball over the winter, but I feel like even though this year wasn’t the best season, I feel like it was a really good group of girls to end my career with, and they really cared,” she said. “They played for me a lot, so it was really nice.”
An excellent student, Murphy is a member of the National Honor Society and has taken several AP classes. She is also part of her grade’s executive council.
“She’s a great kid, a great teammate,” Rapp said. “I will miss her a lot.”
