WBB: Lizanne Murphy Helps Canada Advance To Pan American Gold Medal Game

Toronto – Former Hofstra Women's Basketball Standout Lizanne Murphy and the Canadian Women's National Team will play the United States in the Pan American Games gold medal contest at 8:45 p.m. tonight. The game can been seen on ESPNU and ESPN3.

Canada will look to capitalize on home-court advantage with Toronto serving as the host. Murphy scored 12 points in Canada's 91-63 semifinal win over Brazil on Sunday. Canada has never won a Pan Am basketball tournament, on either the women or men's side. The women's best result was a silver in 1999 in Winnipeg.

The tournament is a precursor to another important international competition next month. Canada will look to build momentum heading into the FIBA Americas tournament in Edmonton from Aug. 9-16, where the champion will qualify for a spot in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Canada entered the Pan American Games ranked 10th in the world, which trails only Brazil among FIBA Americas participants. Team USA will not participate in that event as the team won the 2014 world championship and qualified for the Olympics already.

Murphy is in her ninth season with Team Canada and had played 113 games for the national team entering the tournament, according to her official national team bio. She currently plays for the Angers in the French LFB.

Murphy, one of the top rebounders in the history of the Hofstra Women's Basketball program, finished her career with 988 rebounds and 1,245 points. Her rebounding total still ranks third in program history. Her stellar international career includes a 2012 Olympic appearance, where she averaged 4.5 points and 2.3 rebounds in the London Games.

Murphy also scored 10 points in a preliminary win over Argentina and 15 points and nine rebounds in a blowout win over Venezuela.

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