New scenery has Carmody flying like an Eagle

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Lily Carmody wasn't satisfied after a promising freshman season at Butler University.

She wanted more and wanted to further grow her game.

It’s that mindset that shines through when Carmody is on the court too, whether she’s hounding opponents on the defensive end, driving hard to the bucket or knocking down triples. The Victorian-native loves to compete and just wants to get better.

That led her to the transfer portal over the offseason and through that process she committed to Boston College.

She’s fitted in seamlessly with her new squad, leading the Eagles in scoring with 12.6 points per game, and she spoke about choosing Boston College and wanting to make the most of the opportunities in front of her.

“I looked at it with the view of focusing on what was going to best suit my game and help me grow as a player,” Carmody told basketball.com.au.

“I wanted to obviously build on what I had last season, but I also wanted to take a step back in order to take a step forward and figure out what I needed to work on.

“I want to take this opportunity with both hands that Boston has given me and see what I can do with it this season.”

It’s fair to say she’s taken the opportunity. In just her second game for the Eagles, Carmody set a new career-high in scoring with 21 points (3-from-3 3PT and 10-from-12 FT) as Boston College defeated New Hampshire, 69-57.

A couple of weeks later, Carmody set a new benchmark for herself with 22 points in a tough overtime loss to Harvard.

Often when a player takes on a larger role and has a much higher usage, their efficiency takes a dip, but that certainly isn’t the case for Carmody, who has almost doubled her scoring output, while her field goal percentage has risen from 38.1% in 2024-25 to 46.1% in 2025-26. Her three-point shooting percentage has also skyrocketed from 19.6% to 37%.

Making the jump on offence has seen Carmody garner more defensive focus from the opposition and she credits coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee for helping her navigate the challenges along the way.

“Coach [Bernabei-McNamee] really assisted with watching film and just being able to understand where I can attack the basket, what I'm not seeing and how I can grow,” she said.

“It’s an adjustment to have that kind of focus on you, but it's just more of the same; being consistent and seeing what that brings for me.”

While Carmody has risen to the challenge on the offensive end, her bread and butter is the defensive side of the game. She can change a game with the way she hunts opponents, annoying them into turnovers with constant pressure and slowly but surely wearing them down.

She’s absolutely relentless and will stop at nothing to gain her team the edge, be that by forcing a turnover, slowing down the opposition’s offensive set with a deflection or taking valuable seconds away with her full-court, stifling defence.

“Defence is probably my favourite side of basketball if I'm being honest and it’s something that I've always known that I can control,” she said.

“I wasn't the biggest player when I was younger, I was a lot smaller, so being pesky was kind of where I was taught to thrive and I think that carries over at any level.

“That's what I like to put my name on; being a person who loves to get up and be aggressive, be annoying, and I think that's something that can feed into offence a lot easier than trying to get my offence to feed into my defence.”

Before taking on the college basketball world, Carmody spent two seasons with the Melbourne Boomers in the WNBL as a development player. Those two years were invaluable in teaching her what being a professional basketball player is all about, playing alongside the likes of Australian Opals legends such as Cayla George, Tess Madgen and Kristy Wallace, as well as import stars Jordin Canada, Naz Hillmon and Tiffany Mitchell.

“Oh my gosh, it was amazing,” she said of her time with the Boomers.

“It really taught me a lot, especially about what a professional really does look like, how they work, but also how they carry themselves day in and day out.

“I was just soaking up the knowledge that surrounded me. The amount of people who had so much experience in Australian basketball, WNBL and WNBA, it was really cool to be able to take that in.”

While she’s now plying her trade against the best college basketball players in America, Carmody hopes to one day return to the league.

“I hope my future is with basketball for as long as it possibly can be,” she said.

“The WNBL would be amazing, and anywhere else basketball takes me along the way.

“I'm very excited to see where I can work my way towards in my career. The WNBL is getting so big at the moment, it’s definitely growing a lot, so I'd be very excited if I had the opportunity to get back to that league.”

As is the case for many of Australia’s best juniors, Carmody had the decision to make between staying in Australia and continue playing in the WNBL or head off to college. She admits it wasn’t an easy decision but couldn’t pass up the opportunity that awaited her in the US.

“I actually didn't know what I wanted, it was a very tough decision for me,” she said.

“I loved my two years in the WNBL, it was such an amazing experience, but after I spoke to a lot of my coaches, I decided that it was going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity, and if I absolutely hated it and didn't like being away from home, I wasn't stuck.

“I thought it'd be a great opportunity to learn, to grow my game and to see what the American style of basketball was like because I’d heard it's quite different.”

Looking back, Carmody notes her first NBL1 South season with the Melbourne Tigers in 2022 as the moment she realised basketball could take her places. As a 16-year-old guard, Carmody was a constant presence, leading the Tigers in scoring at 11.7 points per game) while adding 4.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game.

She improved with each passing game and her undeniable talent was shining through for all to see.

“My first season of NBL1 is when I realised it was a possibility for me to do it as a professional,” she said.

“When I got the opportunity to play with the Melbourne Tigers, I was playing against grown women and I didn’t do too shabby, so I realised that I could possibly pursue it in the long run and the dream wasn't as far off as I thought it might have been.

“Waz [Warrick] Giddey was the head coach at the time and him taking a chance on me, teaching me, being patient and letting me just play was something I was definitely very, very grateful for.

“In the moment I don’t think I realised the confidence I was building, I was just taking it all in because it was so much fun, but honestly I was so grateful for it.”

Now on the other side of the globe, Lily Carmody continues to flourish and with her dogged determination on full display with every possession, she’s not going to slow down any time soon.

About the Author

Hayley Wildes is passionate about all things Australian women’s basketball and loves to highlight the stories of players from all levels and competitions across the globe. From our own backyard in the WNBL, to the WNBA and the Opals, and everything in between, Hayley has you covered.