Tim Tams, Aussie teammates and pursuit of greatness

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From Steph Curry's magical Elite 8 run to adopted Aussie Derek Rucker being just one of seven players with their jerseys retired - making history is nothing new for the Davidson Wildcats men's program.

But Australian Katie Donovan is hoping she can help the Wildcats women make some history of their own.

Donovan is one of four Aussies in the Davidson women's team and is starring for the Atlantic 10 Conference side in her junior year with career-best averages of 12.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists.

The Gold Coast product is shooting the ball at an incredible 48% from the field and 52.5% from the three-point line for the 10-5 Wildcats, who are also 2-0 in conference match-ups so far this season. She recorded a career-high of 28 points, including 7-from-8 from distance, against Ball State on December 8.

Leading the way alongside fellow Aussie and star Davidson forward Charlise Dunn, Donovan said the school meant a lot to her and the women's team wanted to make their own mark on the college basketball landscape.

"I love Davidson, I love the community, my team, the school," she told basketball.com.au.

"I love how much history of greatness there is in the basketball program. However a lot of those records have been on the men’s side, so we have so much hunger on the women’s side to make a name for ourselves.

"I knew coming in from people like Rucker that the basketball at Davidson and in the A10 was tough.

"As a team our goal is to make it to the NCAA tournament. We want to have a record season and we want to win the A10. Our preseason games given us great exposure to some top teams and we feel confident to compete at that level.

"For myself I want to have as big of an impact as possible. Whether that be scoring, leadership or defence, I want to be a big presence on the court. I’ve worked very hard on my shot over the summer and so I hope that becomes evident this year and makes my scoring package more complete."

Like any teenager, moving to the other side of the world as a 17-year-old was a tough adjustment for Donovan, but her college journey has been made easier with Davidson's strong Aussie connections.

On top of Dunn, the Wildcats also boast two other Aussies in Asha Nightingale and Emilie Bessell, creating another school with an Aussie pipeline which is only going to get bigger with another Queenslander in Sharni Reisinger set to join the program next season.

"I love having three other Australians in the team," Donovan said.

"They obviously can understand a lot about who you are, how you grew up and your culture. But because we have so many internationals on the team that there is such a community surrounding supporting one another away for home.

"We are a very close team, so we spend a lot of time together, so I don’t find myself just hanging with the Australians but I am lucky to have Charli (Dunn) as my Australian roommate. However at some point I did lose a pack of Tim Tams.

"(Being away from home) has definitely gotten easier as I have gotten older. It was a bit of a shock moving to the other side of the world after never living away from home but now Davidson is like a second home. I miss Davidson and the people in it when I leave to go back to Australia."

While Donovan's work on her game is easy to see through her production this season, she has also emphasised working on other aspects of being an athlete in order to best help Davidson create the history she has spoken about.

"We lost a lot of leadership and experience last year and with 10 underclassmen this year I wanted to focus on leadership," she said.

"I wanted my team’s respect not just because I had played but because they could see how hard I worked and that I was dedicated to getting better. I really wanted to improve coming into this year with making it to the NCAA tournament as the end goal.

"I got recruited as a wing, played the majority of my minutes my freshman year as a point guard and now start at the four spot. I think I have just taken value information from my coaches growing up and kind of mixed them into one."