Lexi Donarski

Alexis Marie Donarski (born January 11, 2002) is an American professional basketball player for TFSE-MTK of the Hungarian A Division. She played college basketball for the Iowa State Cyclones and the North Carolina Tar Heels. In the 2021–22 season, she was named the Big 12 Conference Defensive Player of the Year with the Cyclones.

Early life and high school career

Donarski was raised in Onalaska, Wisconsin, one of two daughters born to Dave and Pam Donarski. Donarski's parents had her practicing basketball from a young age, working on her defense from the age of four, and she played up two age levels from the first grade. When she was 14, she committed to Iowa State, which she grew up a fan of, when head coach Bill Fennelly offered her a scholarship as an eighth grader. Donarski attended Aquinas High School in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where she led the basketball team to two state championships and an overall record of 107–3. She averaged 24.2 points, 6.9 assists, 5.5 steals and 4.5 rebounds per game in her senior year, being named the Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year and Wisconsin Miss Basketball. She also played for Wisconsin Flight Elite, which now goes by Team PRIME Nation of the GIRLS NIKE EYBL (EYBL). Donarski was ranked as a five-star recruit and the 12th-best player of the 2020 class, making her the highest-ranked recruit in Iowa State history.

College career Iowa State Cyclones Freshman season (2020–21) Donarski debuted for the Iowa State Cyclones on November 25, 2020, scoring 5 points in a 69–43 win against Omaha. On December 12, she scored a team-high 25 points with 7 rebounds in an 85–64 win against North Dakota State. She shot 7-for-9 from three for 25 points in a 99–72 win against Texas Tech on January 10, 2021. She posted a career-high 32 points in a 92–81 win against TCU on February 13. In the NCAA tournament, she scored 18 points for No. 7 seed Iowa State in an 84–82 loss to No. 2 Texas A&M in the second round. As a freshman, she averaged 13.0 points (the most of any Big 12 freshman), 3.3 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game. She shot 41.1 percent from distance for a team-high 53 made threes.

Sophomore season (2021–22)

As a sophomore, Donarski averaged 14.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. She kept her main conference defensive targets—who had averaged 14.7 points per game on 40.9 percent shooting—to 9.3 points and 30.0 percent. She received first-team All-Big 12 honors and became the first Cyclone to be named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. She led the No. 3 Cyclones with 20 points in a 67–44 win against No. 6 Georgia in the second round of the NCAA tournament on March 20, 2022. She scored 11 points as they were upset 76–68 by No. 10 Creighton in the third round.

North Carolina Tar Heels Senior season (2023–24) Donarski announced that she would transfer to the North Carolina Tar Heels on April 24, 2023. She debuted for the Tar Heels on November 8, scoring 14 points in a 102–49 win against Gardner–Webb. She scored a season-high 23 points in an 80–70 win against NC State on February 22, 2024. She was held to 7 points in an 88–41 blowout loss to eventual champions No. 1 South Carolina in the second round of the NCAA tournament. As a senior, she averaged 10.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game in her senior season. On March 6, 2025, she scored 20 points in a 78–71 win against Boston College during the ACC tournament, where North Carolina reached the semifinals. She sank five three-pointers in a game six times during the season, including in a 70–49 win against Oregon State in the first round of the NCAA tournament, where the Tar Heels would make the third round. Her total of 86 three-pointers made in the season ranked fifth in program history.

Career statistics

College