Kay Donahue jokes about having had a touch of gray in her hair since her early teenage days.

Perhaps that is fitting considering she will bring a wealth of veteran experience to this year's Bonnies roster.

She comes to St. Bonaventure after four years at Lafayette College and has the wisdom of a player with many experiences in the game to share with her new teammates.

"Four years of college basketball is a lot. I hope I can help the younger girls understand that their time will come, even if it takes a lot to get to that point," she said.

Donahue's own basketball journey has certainly seen its share of ups and downs – and she hopes this final college season will provide the opportunity to finish on a strong note.

Her career at Lafayette was a bit of a slow build – she averaged 3.5 points and 2.0 rebounds per game as a freshman in a reserve role. The following year, she played in all 30 games, posting just over five points and two boards on average.

Then, she learned to take a step back – and just be herself.

"I gained a lot of confidence in both my game but also myself. That allowed me to make that big jump from my sophomore year to my junior year," she said. "My freshman and sophomore year, I was really nervous to step on the court. Every practice and game I just started to remind myself to play like myself."

Her junior season represented a breakout campaign.

She earned a starting role for the Leopards and averaged nearly 10 points per game while leading the team on the boards. Her talent was on full display as she poured in a career-high 18 points on a career-best eight buckets at No. 6 Notre Dame that November.

Then came an unforeseen pothole in the road.

She suffered a torn ACL, LCL and meniscus during a February 2025 game at Colgate and suddenly it seemed like her basketball road had come to a jarring end.

"My initial reaction was I can't believe this happened to me. Originally I didn't think I'd be coming back to basketball. I thought it was the universe telling me that you're done," she remembers. "I missed playing so much. I missed the sport I had put so much time into. About three months post-op I decided I was going to play again."

Basketball has always been a fabric of the New Jersey native's life – her father, Steve, played at Providence. After putting in a lifetime of effort on the court, last year saw her have to take a full season away from playing while rehabbing her knee for one final go.

"Last season, having to watch my team was really difficult," she said of her redshirt campaign. "It was hard to take a step back and pick my knee over pushing it to play. It taught me a lot; patience for one thing. It definitely taught me that my time would come if I put in the work."

With one year of eligibility remaining, Donahue was searching for a program that saw the version of her that excelled during the 2024-25 campaign and not someone who had not played in over a year.

"A really big thing for me was that (the coaching staff at Bona's) trusted the work I had put into my knee and they weren't really concerned with it which was awesome because I'm not concerned about it and wanted someone who would back me on that feeling," she said. "From our first call, they said 'we want you, and we trust you, and trust your game and your knee. That was huge for me."

Now fully healthy, she is set to finish her college career with a program that will allow her to prove that her perseverance was worth it.

"Something that really solidified my decision in coming here was how practices go," she said. "I love fast-paced, in-your-face basketball, and that's what we do."