How Charlise Dunn hopes to lead Davidson to new heights this season

She decided to go with a fresh start, picked No. 21 and hasn’t looked back. 

“I was actually talking about it with [assistant] coach Laura Barry the other day … and she was like, ‘I can’t imagine you ever being anything but 21,’” Dunn told The IX Basketball. “And I was like, ‘I think it’ll stick, but it’s the first time I’ve ever worn it.’”

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Dunn’s road to Davidson 

Dunn, an Australian native, started her college career at Virginia Tech, scoring 15 points in 11 games before entering the transfer portal. 

Once she stepped on campus at Davidson, she fell in love with the people, including the coaches and team, and decided that it was where she’d spend the rest of her college career. 

Dunn was already on the Davidson coaching staff’s radar before entering the transfer portal. Head coach Gayle Fulks and her staff briefly recruited Dunn out of high school and had watched her for years in the Australian system. Dunn was part of the silver medal-winning team at the FIBA U19 World Cup in 2021 with two future Davidson teammates, Issy Morgan and Millie Prior.

After Dunn entered the transfer portal, Fulks and her staff looked at her other basketball experiences, rather than what she did at Virginia Tech, and were impressed by her versatility and size.

“Her competitiveness always really stood out to us,” Fulks told The IX Basketball. “She just had … a knack for always having really big games in the championships. And so we just knew, as a player, she had a lotta upside.” 

When Dunn visited Davidson, Fulks drove to Blacksburg, Virginia, to pick her up. After an easygoing conversation in the car and meeting the team, Fulks knew Dunn would fit in off the court as well. 

In her first season at Davidson, Dunn averaged 12.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocks in 23 games before tearing her ACL and meniscus. She was also named to the All-Conference third team.

Unchanged work ethic

Dunn started playing basketball at age 10 after first trying netball. Though it took time for her to develop her skills, she put in the effort to make it happen. When she started playing at the under-12 level, she would be the first to practice, getting there early to do a workout with her coaches. Her work ethic has continued at Davidson. 

Last season, Dunn averaged 12.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.2 blocks in 28 games and was named to the All-Conference second team. Since then, she’s worked on being a more two-dimensional player, shot fakes, and her cutting and finishing skills.

Film sessions with Fulks and Barry after the season ended also focused on identifying what skill set to use when and how to showcase her versatility more consistently. Fulks says Dunn is now executing what she’s learned in film sessions and in practice.

This season, Dunn is averaging 16.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. Junior guard Katie Donovan believes that Dunn embodies all three parts of the team’s motto: share, shoot, stifle. 

Dunn had a career-high 33 points on Nov. 22 against Baylor, but she still has a few goals for this season. She wants to be a more efficient scorer, get good looks in the paint, be a good leader and continue to develop as a defender. She’d also like to turn the preseason honors she received — All-Conference first team and All-Defensive team — into a reality.

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Just over a month into the season, Dunn is proud of her defense and her ability to take charges. In many offseason film sessions, Dunn talked with Fulks and Barry about what she did well defensively and what she needed to work on. 

“The one-on-one time I’ve spent with my coaches, both on the court and off the court, watching film, doing workouts, all that stuff [helped],” Dunn said. “And I think the biggest thing for me is just my discipline. Sometimes I wanna go for the steal or the block, and I kinda gamble. And I’ve had to try and dial that down a bit and just play better, disciplined defense.”

This season, Fulks has seen Dunn be an unselfish player who consistently shows up on both ends of the floor.

“She really has blossomed into somebody that really just cares about winning,” Fulks said. “… She trusts her teammates, she trusts our offense and she’s able to make plays for others. And so I think that’s where the most growth has kinda come is that no matter what’s kinda going on in the game, you can expect a certain level of effort [and] consistency on the defensive end, which I think has been her biggest growth since she’s been at Davidson.”

In addition, Fulks has seen Dunn set a good example for the team by embracing getting better every day, including learning from previous games and adapting more quickly in games. She has also been impressed by Dunn’s consistency and competitiveness. “She’s not someone that ever goes through the motions of anything that she’s doing,” Fulks said.  

Becoming ‘a great captain’

Though Dunn wasn’t on the court in every offseason practice, Donovan saw the impact she had. 

“She still had a great voice from the sidelines. She still contributed; she still offered what she was seeing on the side,” Donovan told The IX Basketball. “So that was really helpful just to even have a different perspective [from] someone that’s not on the court. And then on the court, she definitely leads with the type of example that I wanna follow.” 

Dunn is the only senior on the team this season, and Fulks has seen her balance being caring and competitive as she leads. Fulks believes the relationships Dunn has built with her teammates have shown up on the court.  

“She’s really invested in the relationships with everyone on our team,” Fulks said. “… She’s really just kind of blossomed into someone that connects really well with a lot of people, but also someone that’s earned the respect of everyone in our program, ’cause she really cares. She really cares about people, cares about them as individuals, but also, she wants to help us win.”

During games, Dunn leads by focusing on the next play and being vocal in the huddle, which Donovan believes has helped the team down the stretch in close games. 

“She’s doing really well to lead us this year, and she’s become a great captain, and everyone really relies on her,” Donovan said. “And I think she’s really living up to that role right now, and she’s really embracing it.” 

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Goals for the future, in basketball and beyond 

Dunn is majoring in educational studies and is currently doing a field placement at a preschool working with 4- and 5-year-olds, which she described as “the best thing ever.” Some of the kids she works with come to Davidson games and bring posters. 

“It’s so sweet. It’s a reminder that it’s bigger than just basketball,” Dunn said. “… It’s kind of made me realize … [that] I’m able to be a role model for these little girls, and it’s the best feeling.”

Fulks has seen Dunn find more joy in basketball since beginning her field placement. 

“I think that she’s competing with a smile on her face,” Fulks said. “I just think that the experience that she’s had with those kids has really helped drive her. She’s a very intense player, but [there’s] also the joy that she can also bring while being intense.”

The Wildcats have started this season 6-3, with all three losses coming by single digits to Power Five opponents. Dunn has played a large part in that early success, with double-figure points in all nine games and double-doubles in the last three. 

“I think that we’re gonna be really, really good,” Dunn said. “So I hope, just as a team, this is one for the history books, and everyone can look back on it.” 

Davidson made its first Atlantic 10 Tournament semifinal last season, but Dunn and the team have bigger goals for March. They know that to achieve those goals, they can’t take any days off and have to continue to learn from each game.

“We wanna make it even further this year; we wanna win it,” she said. “And then we wanna go to March Madness. So it’s just using last year as, I guess, motivation as well. We were close, but not close enough.” 

Though her senior season has only just begun, Donovan and Fulks know that Dunn will be leaving behind a legacy at Davidson. 

“Charli is immensely competitive,” Donovan said. “Any drill that we do, whether it’s just a shooting drill in practice, Charli wants to win, she wants us to move with pace and she wants us to shoot the ball well. … It definitely drives a lotta competitive energy throughout our training sessions that help us get better.” 

Donovan believes that the team’s “competitive spirit” will be different next year without Dunn and that everyone will need to contribute to make up for her absence. 

And Fulks has seen Dunn’s approach to everything she does impact her teammates. 

“The way that she attacked her rehab, the way that she attacks drills in practice, the way that she competes in a game … I think just the way that she approaches winning [and] getting better, it’s just something that’s really rubbed off on our program,” Fulks said. 

Not only has basketball taught Dunn about friendship, but it’s also taught her about teamwork, which she’s applied in the classroom and in everyday life. Dunn wants to play basketball for as long as she can but can see herself teaching afterward. 

Fulks believes that Dunn can play professionally at the highest level. But she knows that Dunn will find success in whatever she does. 

“I think that she can be a great professional basketball player,” Fulks said. “And I think … she has a chance to be a woman that leads in whatever profession she decides to go into. … She has a really high ceiling as a human.”