Donarski’s big 3rd quarter helps North Carolina beat Oregon State – 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕠𝕕𝕒𝕪 𝔼𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕠𝕞𝕪

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

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Lexi Donarski scored 19 points, including 17 in the third quarter, and North Carolina beat 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 North Carolina’s dominant third quarter when it outscored Oregon State 30-9 in the period. Alyssa Ustby had 10 points and nine rebounds, including a program-record 1,252nd of her career, and Maria Gakdeng added 13 points.

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

Next up for No. 3 seed North Carolina (28-7) is 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 jumper late in the first half.

“I thought we got good looks,” North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said. “We were just really rusty in the second quarter.”

North Carolina opened the second half with 11 straight points, all by Donarski. The Tar Heels shot 11 for 17 from the field in the third, including 6 of 8 from beyond the arc.

“We forced them to play faster than they wanted,” Donarski said. “We got them trapped in situations that they didn’t want to be in. We came out with a different mentality in that third quarter.”

Oregon State coach Scott Rueck praised Donarski for her performance.

“We know what she’s capable of,” Rueck said. “She’s been talked about for five straight days. ‘No. 20, No. 20, No. 20,’ that is all that’s been said. … You’re rolling the dice if you let someone like that get free.”

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 the hot-shooting Donarski was too much to overcome.

North Carolina: After a back-and-forth start, the Tar Heels put it all together in the second half.

Raising the bar

North Carolina’s 28 wins match the program’s best total since 2013.

Now in her sixth season, Banghart is appreciative of all that’s fallen into place for the program.

“I thought this was a place that I could get kids that fit the way that I want to play, and I could coach some of the very best players in the country from a skill-set standpoint without any sort of handcuffs,” she said. “I’ve been able to do that.”