By Jonathon Zenk, Northwestern State Assistant Director of Communications; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
NATCHITOCHES—It was a night to remember for Northwestern State.
In his first game as the head coach of NSU, Alan Frey notched his first career victory, but it was a bit overshadowed.
Chloe Donnell, a sophomore who came over as a transfer from South Alabama, poured in 46 points, burying an NCAA record-tying 14 3-pointers, as the Demons (1-0) rolled to a 120-40 win over Ecclesia (0-4) on Monday evening at Prather Coliseum.
“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, as well as the most points in a single quarter (35).
Donnell, whose career-high collegiately was four points coming into Monday, 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.
While she took control throughout the game, Donnell also 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 at the end of the first and set the school record for most points in a single quarter.
“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 made at least one basket.
Playing in her first collegiate game, 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 task gets more difficult next for the Demons, as they travel to Arkansas on Friday, beginning a three-game road trip, which also takes them to Oklahoma State (Nov. 9) and Louisiana Tech (Nov. 12).