Onalaska’s Donarski, North Carolina could get a crack at No. 1 South Carolina, but it needs to beat Michigan St. first
A tough draw for Onalaska native Lexi Donarski and the North Carolina women’s basketball team.
The Tar Heels (19-12) are an eight seed in the NCAA tournament and will play at 10:30 a.m. Friday in the Albany Region, against No. 9 Michigan State (22-8) in the first round. The game will be on ESPN2.
The winner plays the overall No. 1 overall seed, top-ranked and unbeaten South Carolina, which is hosting the first two rounds of the region, and hasn’t lost a regular-season game in two seasons.
Tickets on the second-hand market are going for over $100 (Vivid Seats / Stub Hub).
The Gamecocks’ last loss was against Caitlin Clark and Iowa in last year’s Final Four — Clark had 42 points. South Carolina won the championship two season’s ago and has a 103-2 record the past three seasons.
North Carolina lost to the Gamecocks 65-58 back on Nov. 30. It was 57-52 with just over 2 minutes to go, before SC hit a 3-pointer, then made four free throws to put the game away. Donarksi had nine points on just 3-for-13 shooting in that one, but added six rebounds, two assists and two steals.
But, before North Carolina gets to Round 2, it has to beat a Michigan State team that had won five in a row before losing in the third round of the Big Ten Tournament.
The Spartans are 0-4 against ranked teams. North Carolina hasn’t been ranked since the end of January, after it lost three consecutive games — two to ranked teams and another at Duke.
Donarski, who specializes in guarding the opponent’s best player — unless that’s a “big” — and hitting 3-pointers, is third on the team in scoring and second in minutes.
She’s a streaky shooter, averaging 10.8 points hit at a 37.8% clip, including 2.3 3-pointers a game. She’s shot 34.6% from beyond the arc.
Donarski, who will be back next season, has scored in double figures 17 times for the Tar Heels, including 20 or more points four times.
Her best offensive game of the season probably came in a 80-70 win against sixth-ranked North Carolina State, where she had 23 points, hitting 5 of 9 from beyond the arc. She also dropped 23 against Clemson, tying a career high for 3s made — which she’s done twice this season — going 6-for-16.