Tag: Duke Women’s Basketball

Duke women’s basketball creeps closer to the top 10 in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

The Duke Blue Devils moved up two spots to No. 14 in the updated USA TODAY Sports Women’s College Basketball Coaches Poll.

After a road victory over the South Dakota State Jackrabbits on Sunday, the Duke Blue Devils shifted closer to the top 10 in the USA TODAY Sports women’s college basketball coaches poll on Tuesday.

Duke shuffled up two spots to No. 14 in the rankings, one spot ahead of the North Carolina Tar Heels after UNC’s loss to No. 2 Connecticut. In fact, the Blue Devils are the highest-ranked team with a loss in this week’s rankings.

Head coach Kara Lawson has shown off the balanced scoring attack and harassing defense fans expected during the offseason. The Blue Devils have given up just 61.6 points per game, letting opponents make 39.1% of their shots, while five different players have averaged at least 9.0 points per game.

Sophomore Jadyn Donovan became the latest Duke player to step forward on Sunday, scoring 23 points and adding 23 rebounds in the road win. It was the second 20-point performance from the roster this season (Ashlon Jackson finished with 22 against Liberty).

South Carolina, the reigning national champions who haven’t lost since 2022-23, remained in the top spot with 28 of 30 first-place votes. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (fifth) are the only ACC team ahead of Duke.

Duke women’s basketball jumps back ahead of the UNC Tar Heels in the AP Poll

After Sunday’s win over South Dakota State, the Duke women’s basketball team shifted back ahead of the UNC Tar Heels in the AP Poll.

The Duke Blue Devils moved up two spots to 14th in the updated AP Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Poll released on Monday.

Duke won two games last week, first defeating Dayton at home on Thursday night before beating a ranked South Dakota State team in their building on Sunday. Sophomore Jadyn Donovan put together the best game of her career against the Jackrabbits, scoring 23 points and coming down with 15 rebounds to help the Blue Devils keep pace in a 75-71 shootout.

Donovan is one of four Duke players averaging at least 10.0 points per game this season, joining returning stars Ashlon Jackson (13.2) and Reigan Richardson (11.4). Five-star freshman Toby Fournier, one of the big stories of the season, sits second on the roster with 12.4 points off the bench through her first five collegiate games.

The two-spot jump moved the Blue Devils back above the North Carolina Tar Heels, who tumbled down to 16th after a loss to the Connecticut Huskies. Duke also moved ahead of NC State, who fell all the way to 20th after a non-conference loss to TCU.

The South Carolina Gamecocks remained atop the rankings with the Huskies, USC Trojans, Texas Longhorns, and UCLA Bruins staying put within the top five. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (sixth) are now the only ACC team above the Blue Devils.

Jadyn Donovan’s monster game helps Duke women’s basketball beat No. 25 South Dakota State

Duke women’s basketball picked up its first ranked win of the 2024-25 season on Sunday, defeating No. 25 South Dakota State 75-71.

The Duke women’s basketball team picked up a second straight win on Sunday, defeating No. 25 South Dakota State in its own building in a 75-71 shootout.

After two scoreless minutes from both teams to start the game, Duke scored 12 points over the final 4:03 of the first quarter to take a five-point lead at the first break. The Blue Devils kept comfortable control throughout the second quarter, heading back to the locker room with a 38-30 advantage, but the second half belonged to sophomore Jadyn Donovan.

Donovan scored eight points in the first two quarters, but two baskets in the first three minutes of the third helped create a 44-38 advantage. The Jackrabbits scored nine of the next 10 points to retake the lead, but Donovan made it to the basket twice in about a minute near the end of the quarter. Her free throw after the second of those buckets put the Blue Devils back out in front, keeping pace in a back-and-forth battle.

Donovan came through one last time in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, converting two straight looks on consecutive possessions with less than seven minutes on the clock to turn a tie game into a four-point lead.

The Blue Devils never trailed again, and when the Jackrabbits closed within two with 2:42 to play, Donovan surprised no one in the building by getting to the basket one last time for two more points.

“She was unbelievable,” Lawson said of Donovan after the game. “She was a presence on both ends for us all afternoon. Jadyn is the biggest reason we were able to come away with the win.”

Donovan ended the game with 23 points and 15 rebounds, leading the team in both categories.

Ashlon Jackson, who scored 22 points against Liberty in the second game of the season, finished with 18 points for her fourth consecutive double-digit game. She also tacked on the final point of the game, making a free-throw in the final seconds to cement the two-score advantage.

The Blue Devils, now 4-1 on the season, host Belmont on Thursday for their next game.

Duke women’s basketball freshman Toby Fournier off to the program’s best start in a decade

Duke women’s basketball freshman Toby Fournier recorded her fourth straight 10-point game on Thursday, teetering her toward school history.

[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] isn’t the only Duke basketball freshman turning heads in Durham this season.

[autotag]Toby Fournier[/autotag], a 6-foot-2 forward from Canada, scored 15 points in just 19 minutes off the bench in an 84-49 victory over Dayton on Thursday. The performance marked her fourth consecutive game with at least 10 points to open the season, making her the first Blue Devil to accomplish that feat since Becca Greenwell in 2014-15.

Fournier, the No. 10 overall recruit in the 2024 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings from espnW, notched 10 points in her debut against Radford. She followed that up with 13 points against Liberty and 15 points against Maryland to raise her scoring average to 13.3 points to start the year, the highest on the team.

She’s also averaging 5.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks, and she’s attempted 20 free throws over the last three games despite never playing more than 24 minutes.

“You can see she’s going to be really efficient,” head coach Kara Lawson said after last week’s win over Liberty.

Lawson already brought back her four leading scorers from last year’s team, and the Blue Devils reached the Sweet 16 in that run. With another year of experience and the addition of Fournier, something could be brewing in Durham.

Duke women’s basketball dispatches Dayton thanks to Jordan Wood and Toby Fournier

The Duke women’s basketball team rebounded on Thursday with an 84-49 victory over the Dayton Flyers thanks to two standout underclassmen.

The Duke women’s basketball team bounced back into the victory column on Thursday night with an 84-49 win over Dayton powered by multiple excellent performances off the bench.

After Sunday’s loss to Maryland, head coach [autotag]Kara Lawson[/autotag] and the Blue Devils slipped down to 16th in the newest USA TODAY Sports Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll. Despite returning to the friendly walls of Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke surrendered the first eight points of the game thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from the Flyers.

Dayton’s upper hand completely vanished from there, however. Junior Ashlon Jackson, just one week removed from her 22-point performance against Liberty, made a triple and a layup to take the lid off the basket.

The real boost, however, came from the bench. Freshman forward Toby Fournier, who scored at least 10 points in each of the first three games, notched a go-ahead basket before fighting her way to the basket again on the following possession. All of a sudden, just minutes after not having any points on the board, the Blue Devils led by three.

Fournier finished with 15 points, five rebounds, and three steals, but she wasn’t even the most prolific player off the bench. Jordan Wood ended the evening with a team-high 17 points, including five in the first two minutes of the second quarter.

When Wood buried a 3-point attempt just 12 minutes into the game, the Blue Devils led by 10, and the Cameron Crazies could breathe easy knowing no upsets would take place in Durham.

Duke led by 14 points at the break and outscored the Flyers 47-26 over the last 20 minutes, letting Lawson enjoy a 35-point margin of victory.

“Proud of our group,” Lawson said after the game. “I thought our second half we were able to improve in some key areas. We challenged them at halftime to rebound better so that was nice to see.”

Duke finished with 48 rebounds to Dayton’s 30, and Jadyn Donovan finished with nine by herself. Six different Blue Devils scored at least 10 for the game, and 58 of the team’s 84 points came from the second unit.

The Blue Devils travel again this weekend for a Sunday game against South Dakota State on Sunday afternoon.

Duke women’s basketball tumbles to 16th in the AP Poll after weekend loss

The Duke Blue Devils dropped five spots to 16th in the AP Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Poll after Sunday’s loss to Maryland.

The Duke Blue Devils lost a ranked road battle against the Maryland Terrapins on Sunday, and as a result, they slipped down five spots to 16th in the newest AP Poll.

After entering the season as the third-ranked team in the ACC preseason poll, the Blue Devils beat Radford and Liberty to get off to a 2-0 start. Freshman forward Toby Fournier has scored at least 10 points in every game, culminating in a 15-point effort against the Terrapins, and she’s one of three Duke players averaging at least 12.0 per game (Ashlon Jackson and Reigan Richardson are the other two).

Maryland shot all the way up to 11th with the victory, and the North Carolina Tar Heels now sit above the Blue Devils in 14th. UNC opened its season with wins over Charleston Southern and UNC Wilmington, but the No. 2 Connecticut Huskies await them on Friday.

The Cameron Crazies welcome the Blue Devils back to Durham for a Thursday home game against Dayton.

Duke women’s basketball drops below UNC to 16th in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

After Sunday’s loss to Maryland, the Duke Blue Devils tumbled down to 16th in the USA TODAY Sports Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll.

The Duke women’s basketball team tumbled down to 16th in the USA TODAY Sports Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll on Tuesday after its first loss of the season over the weekend.

The Blue Devils fell to Maryland on the road, 85-80, despite 15 points from freshman forward [autotag]Toby Fournier[/autotag] off the bench. The 6-foot-2 Canadian has averaged 12.7 points, 5.3 rebounds. 1.0 blocks, and 1.0 steals in her first three collegiate games despite only playing 18.7 minutes per game, and she’s made it to the free-throw line 16 times over the past two contests.

The Terrapins jumped up to 14th with the victory, two spots over the Blue Devils. The team between them? The North Carolina Tar Heels after two straight wins to open their season.

The South Carolina Gamecocks and Connecticut Huskies, predictably, stayed in the first two spots. In fact, the entire top seven remained unchanged after one week.

The Blue Devils return to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Thursday night for a game against Dayton.

Duke women’s basketball freshman Toby Fournier is making an instant impact

Through her first two collegiate basketball games, five-star Duke freshman Toby Fournier looks ready for a sizable role.

Duke forward Toby Fournier has only played two collegiate basketball games, but it’s safe to say the five-star freshman has answered the simple questions so far.

Fournier, a 6-foot-2 forward from Canada, signed with the Blue Devils as the No. 10 overall player in the 2024 HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings from espnW, and she looks the part of an ACC Newcomer of the Year.

She scored 13 points during Duke’s Thursday victory over Liberty, her second straight game in double-digits, and ended the night with four rebounds. In the season opener against Radford, she was remarkably productive with 10 points, three rebounds, two steals, an assist, and a block in just 10 minutes.

Fournier is shooting 52.6% from the floor, and her 11.5 points per game sit tied for the third-most on the team through two games.

“You can see she’s going to be really efficient,” head coach Kara Lawson said after Thursday’s win.

It’s worth a reminder for Duke basketball fans, fellow five-star forward Arianna Roberson and Maryland transfer Riley Nelson, another former five-star talent, will rejoin the team in 2025-26 after injuries forced them to redshirt this season. The future looks exceptionally bright at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Ashlon Jackson leads the Duke women’s basketball team past Liberty for 2-0 start

Ashlon Jackson scored 22 points on Thursday night to lead the Blue Devils to a road victory over Liberty, moving Duke to 2-0 for the year.

The Duke women’s basketball notched another game in the win column on Thursday night when Ashlon Jackson led the Blue Devils to an 83-67 road victory over Liberty.

Head coach Kara Lawson and her team, which started the year at No. 11 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, put their foot on the pedal from the opening minute. Jackson buried a 3-pointer on the first possession, kickstarting a 17-4 run to start the night.

Jackson made another 3-pointer before the end of the first quarter, and Duke led 29-15 after the opening 10 minutes. The Flames clawed back in the second quarter, though, scoring 22 points to pull themselves with two by halftime.

“I love these games,” Lawson said after the game. “I love being in a road environment. How it tests your team. How it tests me. Everybody’s good when it’s good. I need to see what happens when it’s bad — how do we respond?”

Jackson and the Blue Devils responded by dominating the third quarter even more than the first. She opened the second half with another 3-pointer in the opening minute, adding eight points to the board by herself within three-and-a-half minutes.

Duke ended that quarter with a 64-50 lead after holding Liberty to 13 points in 10 minutes, and Jackson finished the night with 22 points and six assists while shooting 5/7 from beyond the arc.

Freshman Toby Fournier didn’t match Jackson’s volume, but the first-year forward put up 13 points and came down with four rebounds in her second collegiate game. Sophomore Jordan Wood, who led the Blue Devils with a career-high 13 points in their opening victory over Radford, added 10 more off the bench as well.

Duke continues its road trip on Sunday against No. 18 Maryland, a game that tips off on FS1 at 1 p.m. Eastern time.

Where does Duke women’s basketball start in the ESPN Bracketology projection?

One game into the 2024-25 season, check out where the Duke women’s basketball team landed in ESPN’s projected bracket.

ESPN’s Charlie Creme released an updated bracket projection for the 2024-25 women’s basketball season on Tuesday, and the Blue Devils open the year as the No. 3 season in Region 2 Birmingham.

Duke opened its season with an 89-36 victory over Radford after sophomore forward Jordan Wood scored a career-high 13 points off the bench. Five other Blue Devils reached double-digits, and the Highlanders shot 23.3% as a team and 17.6% from distance.

“Solid first effort for us,” Lawson said after the game. “I’m sure when we look at the film there will be many things to improve on. I thought we got contributions from a lot of different players…The balance was excellent.”

Eight other teams from the ACC made the bracket, including the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (No. 2 seed, Region 4 Spokane) and the North Carolina Tar Heels (No. 3 seed, Region 1 Birmingham).

The Blue Devils, in their hypothetical March Madness draw, would need to beat the Connecticut Huskies and the LSU Tigers as the top two seeds. South Carolina, last year’s undefeated national champions, also grabbed a top seed, as did the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans.