Lexi Donarski's 11 third quarter points send UNC women's basketball to second round of NCAA tournament

Graduate guard Lexi Donarski’s teammates were thinking the same thing whenever she got the ball: Shoot, and we’ll be ready to celebrate. 

But Donarski didn't care if she was the one shooting, as long as someone was. It just so happened that she was in open space with the ball in her hands. It just so happened that her shots kept sinking. So, she listened to her teammates and kept shooting. 

Her offense made the difference for the No. 3 seeded Tar Heels in the NCAA tournament's first-round game against No. 14 seed Oregon State on Saturday. After UNC shot 35 percent from the field in the first half and went to the locker room with just a two point lead, Donarski changed the game's course in the third quarter, scoring the first 11 points for either team. Her five 3-pointers in 10 minutes were the most she has made in an entire game all season, guiding the Tar Heels to a 70-49 win at Carmichael Arena. 

During her scoring spree, Donarski told first-year guard Lanie Grant to keep taking shots. Grant repeated the advice back to her. 

“She was like, ‘Oh, don’t worry, I’m going to keep shooting,’” Grant said. “And I was like, ‘Good, good,’ and then she went and had like five [3-pointers], just back-to-back, back-to-back, and that was the spark, that was all we needed.”   

With some momentum going into halftime, the discussion in the locker room centered around offensive urgency and beating the tall Beaver defenders down the court.

The team knew that playing for the first time in two weeks would require some adjustment, but the Tar Heels felt like they were taking the shots they wanted. Eventually, they would start going in. All there was to do was keep shooting. 

Sophomore guard Reniya Kelly said there was nothing that Donarski did or said at halftime to indicate that she would light up the court — no fired up speech nor silent brooding.

“She’s literally just like this,” Kelly said. “When she gets hot, she gets hot, and she can get hot at any point.” 

That emphasis on urgency, and the defensive intensity with which UNC played coming out of the half, fueled Donarski’s streak. Three of the four shots she made in the opening minutes of the third quarter came off turnovers.

The final bucket of Donarski's solo run came after she stole the ball and drove down the court for a fast break layup through a foul. 

“I knew I had one-on-one, and I thought I could outrun her," Donarski said, laughing."So I was just going for it.”

At moments, Donarski was modest about her heroic third quarter, crediting the team's defense that created her opportunities in transition. But the confidence she has in her ability to follow through was evident. 

Even the one shot she missed from beyond the arc in the third quarter was one she felt open enough to take. 

Head coach Courtney Banghart, on the other hand, was very direct about the impact of Donarski's shooting at such a high clip. 

“It was a quicker release," Banghart said. "She wasn't as sort of, ‘What does the team need?’ and more as a finisher, which is what she's better at."

Graduate forward Alyssa Ustby told Donarski she wishes she could make a documentary from her perspective on the guard’s breakout quarter. 

Ustby suggested that the performance was more than a feat of athleticism. It was an indication of the kind of teammate and person that Donarski is. And during the third quarter, the team recognized that she was the person who needed to have the ball in her hands.  

“That speaks a lot to Lexi’s character and maturity as a basketball player because she’s able to help the team navigate what we need to do in order to just switch that second half around, while making sure that she stays hot on the offense,” Ustby said. “Our team did a great job with continuing to find her.”

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