Iowa State women’s basketball star Lexi Donarski enters the transfer portal

Posted by Admin March 24, 2023 Basketball

The Iowa State women’s basketball team has suffered its biggest loss to the transfer portal yet.

Cyclones guard Lexi Donarski, a three-year starter and lockdown defender for Iowa State, says she has entered the transfer portal. Donarski, who has made 95 career starts, averaged 13.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game during her three seasons in Ames.

It’s a significant setback for the Cyclones, who have relied on Donarski ever since the highly sought recruit from Wisconsin stepped on campus. The 6-foot guard was a McDonald’s All-American, a five-star high school player, and the highest rated recruit to sign with Iowa State at the time.

Donarski lived up to the hype and earned a starting spot right away, averaging 13 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2 assists per game as a freshman. She followed that up with an even better sophomore season by averaging 14.3 points per game and helping Iowa State to the Sweet 16.

Donarski was usually tabbed with guarding the opposing team’s top perimeter player. She was a success in that role, earning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors after the 2021-22 season.

Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw, Maggie Vick and Morgan Kane have already entered the transfer portal. Iowa State also learned earlier in the week that a waiver to allow post player Stephanie Soares to play another season was denied by the NCAA.

Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018 and 2020 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468. Follow him on Twitter @TommyBirch.