The Duke women’s basketball team started another win streak on Sunday with an 81-59 victory over Virginia Tech powered by 27 points from five-star freshman [autotag]Toby Fournier[/autotag].
The Blue Devils ripped off six consecutive wins early in the year, but a Thursday road loss to defending national champion South Carolina dropped Duke down to 8-2 for the season. Head coach [autotag]Kara Lawson[/autotag] and her team made sure to remind everyone that the midweek game said more about the Gamecocks than anything else.
Fournier remained on the bench to start Sunday’s game, the same way she has in every contest, but she lit up the scoreboard once she finally got onto the court. The Canadian forward made three buckets within 90 seconds in the opening frame, a 6-0 run that pushed the Blue Devils ahead by three.
Sophomore Jordan Wood and senior star Reigan Richardson took turns knocking down 3-pointers on the next two possessions, capping off a 12-2 Duke run and building a 15-8 lead after the opening quarter.
Oluchi Okananwa, the reigning ACC Sixth Person of the Year, made her mark off the bench in the second. The sophomore connected on two jumpers in the first minute, pushing the lead into double-digits, and an and-one later with 3:43 left before the break made it 28-12.
Virginia Tech only put 22 points on the board in the first 20 minutes, and the Hokies went one-for-seven (14.3%) from behind the arc for the entire game.
“It was nice to see the Duke defense back in that first half,” Lawson said after the game. “That is the takeaway from this game that I’m most proud of.”
The Blue Devils tallied 36 rebounds to Virginia Tech’s 27, and the Duke defense Lawson referred to stacked 10 steals and seven blocks before the final buzzer.
Okananwa ended the game with 12 points and 12 rebounds in just 23 minutes, her first double-double of the season. Fournier took over the final seven minutes of the game, notching 11 of Duke’s final 17 points to finish with 27.
Fournier also stacked 25 points against the Belmont Bruins on November 21, and she’s scored at least 10 points in seven of Duke’s 11 games. She’s averaged 12.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game in her debut season.
The Blue Devils get a full 10 days off before their next game, a home fight against Wofford on December 18.
