March Madness: Donarski has 17 points in 3rd to lift North Carolina to 70-49 win over Oregon State

By Canadian Press on March 22, 2025.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Lexi Donarski scored 17 of her 19 points in the third quarter and third-seeded North Carolina pulled away to beat 14th-seeded Oregon State 70-49 in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

Donarski also matched a season-high with five 3-pointers, all coming during a lopsided third that saw the Tar Heels outscore Oregon State 30-9. Alyssa Ustby contributed 10 points and nine rebounds, including the program-record 1,252th of her career, and Maria Gakdeng added 13 points.

Kelsey Rees led Oregon State (19-16) with 15 points and 10 boards while AJ Marotte scored 13.

North Carolina (28-7) moves on to face sixth-seeded West Virginia, a 78-59 winner over 11th-seeded Columbia, in the second round on Monday.

North Carolina jumped ahead 15-7, but Oregon State rallied to take a 20-17 lead on a Marotte 3 with 4:41 left in the second quarter. The Tar Heels jumped back in front 26-24 on a Reniya Kelly’s jumper 8 seconds before halftime.

Oregon State then went scoreless for the first 3-plus minutes of the second half as North Carolina ripped off 11 straight points, all by Donarski. In all, the Tar Heels shot 11-of-17 in the third, including 6-of-8 from beyond the arc.

Takeaways

Oregon State: A No. 14 seed has never won an NCAA Tournament game on the women’s side. For a while, the Beavers looked poised to challenge history, but their inability to slow down the hot-shooting Donarski was ultimately too much to overcome.

North Carolina: After a back-and-forth start, the Tar Heels put it all together in the second half to outscore Oregon State 44-25.

Raising the bar

North Carolina’s 28 wins are a new high in the Courtney Banghart era and match the program’s best total since 2013.

Up next

North Carolina will play No. 6 West Virginia in the second round on Monday. The Tar Heels are seeking their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2022 while the Mountaineers’ last and only appearance came before tournament expansion in 1992.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.

Doug Bonjour, The Associated Press

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