Brock women’s basketball head coach Ashley MacSporran is excited about the addition of Welland natives Brooke-Lyn Murdoch and Courtney McPherson. Both come to the Badgers after playing at Niagara College.

“Both Brooke and Courtney will make an immediate impact with our program,” said MacSporran. “Both bring experience, talent and leadership to our team and I am looking forward to seeing these girls play at the university level. Both players are talented, but more importantly they’re great young ladies with a lot of characters that we want in our players.”

The two players are like sisters, doing just about everything together, including playing basketball and volleyball throughout their childhoods.

“Growing up, anything we did, we did it together,” said Murdoch about their longtime friendship.

“We have always had each others backs on whatever we did whether it was school or basketball,” said McPherson. “We continue to push each other to be better players working hard on our game.”

In high school, Murdoch attended Jean Vanier where she was a multi-sport athlete and McPherson went to Centennial where she played almost every varsity sport.

After parting ways in their first year of university, when McPherson attended Ottawa and Murdoch went to McMaster, both struggled with some injuries that held them back from their full on-court potential.

After just one year away from home, the two returned to the Niagara Region and played together the past three seasons at Niagara College. This season both players were selected as OCAA West Region All-Stars leading the Knights to a 12-6 record. McPherson was a CCAA Academic All-Canadian as well as being named the Knights MVP and Leadership Award recipient. Murdoch was the OCAA West Division Defensive Player of the Year.

At Brock, Brooke will study Kinesiology in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. She wants to pursue a career in athletic training and is looking to learn from the Badgers High Performance Director Steve Lidstone, who she met back in 2012 when she attended McMaster.

“After battling through some injuries, Brooke deserves to be here,” said MacSporran. “She is an athletic young player with great court vision. She has worked hard in the offseason and we will look to help her expand and grow her game.”

Courtney will study Recreation and Leisure in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences.

“Courtney is a very selfless player and will do anything to help her team be successful,” said MacSporran. “She has worked hard on her game and is always willing to improve. I am just excited for her to be part of the Brock Basketball Family.”