Julie Murdent, from Fountain Valley in Southern California, got the basketball bug from her brother, Lewie, who's four years older. "I tried to play against boys when I was in third grade, but that didn't work too well," she said. "In sixth grade, I went on an all-girls team, and the next year, we were Southern California champs." Murdent had an early edge because she was 6-foot-2, the same height she is now, when she was in the eighth grade.
She became team MVP and a two-time All-League player at Fountain Valley High School before spending two years at Golden West JC, where she became that school's All-Time leading scorer and State Co-MVP her sophomore year (SFGate).
At USF she played basketball for the Lady Dons and was a member of the 1996 Sweet 16 Team.
The USF women's basketball team honored its prolific Sweet 16 squad in 2016, bringing together the coaches and players that stand as the lone Dons team that has advanced in postseason play in the era of the NCAA. Those Dons, with Bill Nepfel and Mary Hile-Nepfel at the helm, earned three consecutive bids to the Big Dance after capturing back-to-back-to-back West Coast Conference titles.
In 1996, USF traveled to Durham, N.C., as the No. 12 seed in the Mideast Region. USF started their Cinderella run with a 68-61 victory over then-No. 16 Florida. Valerie Gillon dominated with a 28-point, nine-rebound performance, while Andrea Kagie added 15 points off the bench. Two days later, San Francisco garnered the biggest win the program has known, on the historic hardwood of Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Dons shocked regional host Duke, 64-60, handing the Blue Devils its first non-conference loss at home since 1991. Brittany Lindhe led the Dons with 17 points, while Julie Murdent scored 14 points off the bench, and Renee Demirdjian added a dozen in the victory. USF's 1996 team still stands in the NCAA Championship record books as the lone No. 12 seed that has advanced to the regional semifinal round, and one of six double-digit seeded schools to make a Sweet 16 appearance (#10 – Lamar, 1991; #11 – Gonzaga, 2011; #13 – Texas A&M, 1994; Liberty, 2005; Marist, 2007).
Murdent still has had a fine senior season individually, averaging 12.7 points and 5.7 rebounds a game, a team-leading 15.2 points in conference play (USFAthletics).
