DALLAS – Stanford junior guard Brittany McPhee was honored by the NCAA as this year's women's basketball Elite 90 award winner at Wednesday night's Final Four Salute in Dallas, Texas.
The Elite 90, an award founded by the NCAA, recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers. The Elite 90 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 90 championships.
McPhee, a human biology major with a 3.73 GPA, is Stanford's 15th winner of the award since it was instituted prior to the 2009-10 season and first since men's water polo player BJ Churnside was honored in Dec. 2014. She's the second Stanford women's basketball player to earn Elite 90 status following Erica Payne in 2014. Stanford and Baylor are the only schools with multiple Elite 90 award winners in women's basketball.
McPhee, averaging 13.4 points per game this season, is Stanford's leading scorer in the NCAA Tournament. She's putting up 19.0 per game to go along with 5.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.5 steals, the only player in the postseason with those numbers.
In the last three games McPhee is 11-of-19 from deep (.579). She scored 16 of her game-high 21 in the first half against Kansas State on March 20 and also had seven rebounds, five assists and a career-high five made 3-pointers. Against the Irish on Sunday, the junior scored 19 of her game-high 27 in the second half to go along with five rebounds, four assists, two blocks and another five made 3-pointers.
McPhee, who averaged 6.5 points per game as a sophomore, has increased her average output by 6.9 points this season, the best improvement in the Pac-12. Twenty-five of her 35 career games scoring in double figures have come this season as have seven of her nine 20-point efforts.
Stanford erased a 16-point second-half deficit to beat Notre Dame 76-75 and win the Lexington Region on Sunday. The Cardinal will appear in its 13th Final Four at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Friday against South Carolina, winners of the Stockton Region.