STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford senior guard Brittany McPhee was one of 30 NCAA women's basketball student-athletes selected as a candidate for the 2018 Senior CLASS Award it was announced Thursday.
To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must be classified as NCAA Division I seniors and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their athletic platforms to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2018 NCAA Women's Final Four this spring.
On Monday, McPhee was named espnW for her performances in Stanford's wins over No. 11 UCLA and USC in which she averaged 23.5 points on 54 percent shooting, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists. She totaled 26 points, seven rebounds and four assists in a 76-65 victory against the No. 11 Bruins, a win which averted the program's first three-game home losing streak since 1985-86. She followed that with 21 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals in a 72-65 win against the Trojans.
At her best when it mattered most, 22 of McPhee's 47 points in the two games came in the fourth quarter.
Stanford is a different team with a healthy McPhee on the floor. She returned to the lineup on Dec. 21 against No. 7 Tennessee and scored 27 after missing the previous nine games with a right foot injury. In the season opener at No. 5 Ohio State, she poured in 24 points and two days later she scored nine in Stanford's loss to No. 1 UConn on Nov. 12 and missed the next six weeks.
McPhee has scored 20+ in four of her five games this season and is averaging 21.4 points per game to go with 5.6 rebounds. A candidate for this year's Ann Meyers Drysdale, John R. Wooden and Naismith awards, McPhee averaged 13.3 points per game last season, including 16.8 points on 44.4 percent shooting from behind the arc in the NCAA Tournament.
A human biology major with a 3.73 cumulative GPA, McPhee has twice earned Pac-12 all-academic recognition and at the 2017 Final Four was honored as women's basketball's Elite 90 award winner, which 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 has participated in research at the Longaker Laboratory on campus, investigating stem cells and their ability to reduce scarring and is active in charitable causes throughout the community. Part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, she's a spiritual care volunteer at Stanford Hospital, delivering communion to those unable to attend mass, and also visits Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, playing games, interacting and spending time with patients at one of the country's foremost pediatric care facilities.