BOSTON, Mass.—Freshman Olivia Murphy (Canton, Mass.) capped off her tremendous freshman season with one more award Wednesday morning, as she was crowned the D3Hoops.com Northeast Region Rookie of the Year by D3Hoops.com.

With the award, Murphy has completed the trifecta, becoming the first player in program history to earn the Little East Conference, ECAC Division III New England Women's Basketball and D3Hoops.com Northeast Region Rookie of the Year awards.

A UMass Boston player has earned the D3Hoops.com distinction in each of the past two seasons, as sophomore Kirsten Morrison (North Reading, Mass.) was honored a year ago. The Beacons become the first program in the Northeast to have won the honor twice in the six-year existence of the award and one of a select few programs in the nation from any region to have won back-to-back D3Hoops.com Rookie of the Year awards. 

Murphy was the only player in the Little East Conference to average a double-double, as she led the Beacons with 14.5 points and paced the LEC with 10.2 rebounds per game. In addition to leading the conference in rebounds per game, Murphy also finished first in offensive rebounds per game and offensive and total rebounds.

She also played a huge role defensively for the Beacons, finishing second in the LEC in blocked shots (1.8 blocks per game) and fifth in steals (1.7 steals per game). Her defensive prowess earned her a spot on the Little East All-Defensive Team.

Murphy and Morrison will serve as the backbone of a Beacons team that returns all but one player from a squad that finished with the second-best record in school history at 14-12.