Former West Tallahatchie High School basketball standout Stephanie Murphy has received a top honor in the coaching ranks.
She has been named the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) 2022 Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year.
Murphy won the honor at the conclusion of her fourth season of service as the women’s head basketball coach at Coahoma Community College in Clarksdale.
The table was set after Murphy led Coahoma to MACCC co-state champion status last year — a season that also saw the Lady Tigers finish as North Division winners and runners-up in Region 23.
During the 2021-22 campaign, the CCC Lady Tigers compiled a regular-season record of 17-5 en route to an overall mark of 21-7, including an almost perfect home court success rate of 11-1.
The Lady Tigers went 2-1 in the 2022 MACCC Women’s Basketball Tournament before falling to eventual champion Jones College, then entered the 2022 National Junior College Athletic Association Region 23 Tournament and won a pair of games before again being topped by Jones.
Jones College, by the way, was scheduled to play New Mexico Junior College Wednesday afternoon at Lubbock, Texas, in the NJCAA Division 1 National Tournament.
Murphy’s coaching resume includes seven years as the head coach at Brandon High School, five years as head coach at Tupelo High School and two years as head coach at Meridian High School. Notably, she led all three schools to the Mississippi High School Activities Association’s state tournament and to statewide Super 10 rankings recognition.
According to her coaching resume on the CCC Athletics website, Murphy compiled an overall record of 326-124 at the high school level, for a winning percentage of .724.
Her teams reached the state tournament five teams — finishing as state runner-up on three of those occasions — and won six high school district championships and a South State championship.
For her coaching prowess, the Tallahatchie County native was named The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal Coach of the Year in 2007.
Before entering the coaching ranks, Murphy spent her collegiate career at the University of Mississippi, where she received a bachelor’s degree in exercise science in 2000, followed by a master’s degree in higher education with an emphasis in student personnel in 2002.
While at Ole Miss, Murphy was a letter winner, Arthur Ashe Jr. Leadership Award recipient, NCAA Leadership Conference participant and an SEC All-Academic Team member.
Many local residents know her best from her high school days at West Tally in Webb, where her leadership qualities were honed. She was STAR student and salutatorian of her 1996 graduating class, as well as serving as president of the Student Government Association and Beta Club.
Stephanie Murphy and West Tallahatchie girls basketball coach Eddie Culley are pictured in November 1995. (Sun-Sentinel file photo by Anne Hart Preus)
On the basketball court, Murphy racked up many honors while in high school. During her senior year alone, she was a preseason Clarion-Ledger Dandy Dozen pick — as one of the 12 elite girls basketball players in the state — an All-District and First Team All-State selection and was chosen to play in the Mississippi/Alabama All-Star Game.
As team captain, leading scorer and leading rebounder for the Lady Choctaws during the magical 1995-96 season, Murphy was an integral part of one of the most exciting and most successful basketball campaigns — boys or girls — in West Tally annals.
After finishing that regular season undefeated, and holding the No. 1 ranking in both the Associated Press and Clarion-Ledger polls among all public school classifications, the Lady Chocs rolled into and through the playoffs, reaching the Class 2A girls state championship game.
It was West Tallahatchie’s first-ever appearance in a state title game in any sport.
The Lady Choctaws lost the game 56-45 to the Choctaw Central Lady Warriors, finishing the season a nearly perfect 33-1.
Murphy scored a game-high 30 points and snared 13 rebounds. She hit 67% of her field goal attempts and 75% of free-throw shots and was the only West Tally player scoring in double figures.
