By JONATHON ZENK, Northwestern State Sports Information
It was a night to remember in the tradition-rich history of the Northwestern State women’s basketball program.
In his first game as Northwestern’s head coach, Alan Frey notched his first career victory, but it was more than a bit overshadowed.
Chloe Donnell, a 5-8 sophomore guard from Boerne, Texas, who came over as a transfer from South Alabama, poured in 46 points, burying an NCAA record-tying 14 3-pointers, as the Demons rolled to a 120-40 win over Ecclesia (0-4) on Monday evening at Prather Coliseum.
Only one other NCAA Division I player, Baylor’s Juicy Landrum in 2019 against Arkansas State, has made 14 3-pointers in a game. NCAA records go back to 1988.
The 3-pointers were the first in her college career. She went 0-for-11 last season at South Alabama.
Donnell tied the NCAA record with 1:18 remaining, and missed a record-breaking shot with 42 seconds left. Northwestern got one more possession but as the clock wound down under 10 seconds, held the ball and did not try to score.
She made 14 of 23 from behind the 3-point arc, and sank 16 of 26 shots overall while playing 27 of the game’s 40 minutes.
“I don’t think anything could compare to this,” Donnell said. “I have never been much of a scorer. I contribute well defensively and other things, but I just shot the ball well.
“I knew I was hitting, but I didn’t realize it was that many until the fourth quarter.”
In addition to Donnell’s 14 made 3-pointers, the Demons also set school records with 20 made 3-pointers and largest margin of victory with 80. Both of the previous marks came in last year’s meeting with Ecclesia. Monday, they also set a school mark for the most points in a single quarter (35).
Donnell, whose career-high collegiately was four points, and 29 during her high school career, scored 46 points, which is third in program history and the most since 1990. The only ones to top Donnell’s 46 were a pair of athletes whose numbers have been retired by NSU — Pam Hudson (48) in 1990 and Linda Grayson (47) in 1988.
She showed a flare for the dramatic, as she buried buzzer beaters to finish both the first and second quarters, the first of which put the Demons up 35-9.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Frey said. “It takes a whole bunch of things going on. We were setting screens for her and sometimes, she just caught the ball and said ‘I’m feeling it, it’s a heat check here.’ We’re going to go with that. When we have someone who is on fire, let’s lean into that.”
After scoring 20 in the first half, she channeled her inner Caitlin Clark with 17 points in the third on 6-for-8 shooting, including 4-for-5 from deep. She scored or assisted on 16 of the Demons final 18 points in the third to push the lead to 93-32.
She added three more triples in the fourth to push the 3-point total to 14 and point total to 46.
The victory cemented career victory No. 1 for Frey, who became the seventh full-time head coach out of nine to win his or her first career game at NSU.
“It felt great,” Frey said. “We’ve been talking about family and connection, and we really played like a team tonight and they were super unselfish. They made the right play, both offensively and defensively, so that is something for us to lean into for sure.”
Donnell was one of four Demons in double figures, as she was joined by Delora Pricop (13), Becca Milon (11) and Cimiya Rideaux (10), with Milon’s total being a career high and Rideaux’s matching a career high.
All 10 players who played – every one dressed out on the Northwestern roster — made at least one basket and played between 11 and 28 minutes.
In her first collegiate game, freshman guard Stella Allison hauled down 15 rebounds, as NSU blitzed Ecclesia on the boards 69-35.
KP Parr made the offense go, as she dished out a career-high 11 assists to go along with six points.
“When we all subbed in in the fourth, KP said ‘you’re there,’” Donnell said with a smile on her face regarding the 3-point record. “I told her not say anything. She said ‘No, I have to. I want the assist.’
“I have known KP for awhile since I played in high school at Boerne and she went to La Vega. Playing with her is way better than competing against her.”
Backup point guard Karma Wynn added seven rebounds and nine assists.
Defensively, the Demons held Ecclesia’s leading scorer Kyra Bradley to just six points on 3-for-19 shooting. She came in averaging 19 points per game, including 22 last time out against the College of Biblical Studies.
As a team, NSU held the Lady Royals to just 18.9 percent from the field. After Ecclesia shot 6-of-18 from deep in the first half, the Demon defense held the Lady Royals without a triple in the second half, going 0-for-11.
“I expected this type of performance,” Salumu said. “In practice, we mesh together really well, so it wasn’t a surprise at all. It’s just a good feeling.”
The Demons travel to Arkansas to play Friday, beginning a three-game road trip, which also takes them to Oklahoma State (Nov. 9) and Louisiana Tech (Nov. 12).