Reigan Richardson – Syndication Server

Duke women’s basketball holds Boston College to two second-quarter points in blowout win

Five different Blue Devils scored at least 10 points in Duke’s 86-59 victory over Boston College on Thursday night.

The Duke women’s basketball won for the first time in two weeks on Thursday night, an 86-59 road victory over Boston College powered by a balanced offense and one of the best defensive quarters in program history.

Ashlon Jackson, Reigan Richardson, and Taina Mair all looked unstoppable on the offensive end for the Blue Devils. Richardson put two points on the board within 30 seconds of the opening tip, the first of Jackson’s three assists in the opening frame, and Jackson knocked down a 3-pointer in the final minute of the quarter to open up a 22-17 lead.

Mair took her share of the production in the second window, setting up two of her teammates in the first two minutes and notching seven more points on her own before the midway point. The tradeoff continued the entire night, and Boston College looked incapable of stifling all three guards at once.

The trio each finished with 14 points on Thursday, shooting a combined 17/34 (50%) from the floor and 6/11 (54.5%) from 3-point range with four triples from Jackson alone. All three finished with multiple assists, and Jackson and Mair both ended up with three steals.

While the Blue Devils shot 52.4% from the floor and 50.0% from beyond the arc as a team, the second-quarter defense put the game out of reach. Duke forced nine missed shots and more than a dozen turnovers to hold Boston College to two points, the third time in school history that the Blue Devils kept a team to two points in a quarter.

The offense kept chugging, and 19 more points boosted the advantage to 42-19 lead at the midway point. Thanks in part to 23 combined points from sophomore Oluchi Okananwa and freshman Toby Fournier off the bench, the Blue Devils cruised for the entire final 20 minutes.

Duke, now 11-3 on the season with a 2-0 ACC record, hosts Pittsburgh at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Sunday.

Slow start dooms Duke women’s basketball team in road loss to South Carolina

The Blue Devils couldn’t take down the defending national champions on Thursday night, losing 81-70 to South Carolina after a slow start.

The Duke women’s basketball team headed to Columbia with all the momentum in the world, but the defending national champion South Carolina Gamecocks handed the Blue Devils their first loss in almost a month on Thursday.

Duke knocked off the Kansas State Wildcats and Oklahoma Sooners at the Ball Dawgs Classic last week, a pair of top-10 victories that vaulted them forward onto the national stage. Sunday’s win over the Columbia Lions extended their win streak to six games and pushed them within the top 10 of the USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll.

Sophomores Jadyn Donovan and Delaney Thomas looked primed to keep that form going with two buckets in the first two minutes, each assisting on the other’s basket, but the Gamecocks quickly reminded the nation why they’ve lost two games since the 2022 SEC Tournament.

South Carolina starters Bree Hall and Te-Hina Paopao connected on back-to-back 3-point looks, a quick left hook that put the Blue Devils behind by four. Duke guard Taina Mair cut to the basket for two points just two minutes later, but Gamecocks guard Raven Johnson sandwiched that possession with five points of her own to keep the run moving.

By the time Mair knocked down a 3-pointer of her own with 3:47 left in the opening quarter, all she could do was cut the South Carolina lead to 19-9. The Gamecocks ended the first 10 minutes with a 28-12 advantage.

“We didn’t start the game as we hoped,” head coach Kara Lawson said after the game. “We spent the game trying to fight out of the hole. The hole was a little too deep with a team of that quality.”

Mair and Thomas did their best to will the Blue Devils back into the ballgame, each contributing 14 points. Thomas made all seven of her shots from the floor while Mair ended up with four rebounds, assists, and steals each. While Duke outscored South Carolina 58-53 over the final three quarters, including a 22-point performance in the final frame, it all added up to an 81-70 loss.

“We showed resiliency,” Lawson continued. “I was proud of that, proud of how we stayed in it.”

[autotag]Reigan Richardson[/autotag], the reigning AP national player of the week after her 35-point game against the Sooners, only made one of her eight shots as the Gamecocks held her to three points. Freshman sensation Toby Fournier, the forward who scored at least 10 points in six of her first nine collegiate games, only mustered two points against the reigning champs.

The Blue Devils return to Cameron Indoor Stadium for a Sunday battle with the Virginia Tech Hokies, their first conference game of the season.

Duke women’s basketball star Reigan Richardson named AP national player of the week

Duke women’s basketball star Reigan Richardson earned AP national player of the week honors after her career game against Oklahoma.

Duke guard [autotag]Reigan Richardson[/autotag] played some of the best basketball of her career this past week, and the Blue Devils star earned national recognition for the performances.

Richardson was named the AP women’s basketball player of the week on Tuesday after she helped Duke sweep the Kansas State Wildcats, Oklahoma Sooners, and Columbia Lions.

Those first two wins, both over top-10 programs, came at the Ball Dawgs Classic out in Nevada. Richardson scored 16 points against the Wildcats, but she earned the award for her performance against the Sooners.

In a 109-99 overtime victory over Oklahoma, Richardson scored a career-high 35 points after she made 13 of her 22 attempts and five of her nine 3-point looks. She added seven assists, directly contributing to nearly half of the Blue Devils’ points, with three rebounds.

With 19 more points against the Lions at home on Sunday, Richardson ended the week averaging 23.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists for the week. She connected on 53.8% of her shots on 50.0% of her 3-point attempts.

Richardson led the Blue Devils with 12.4 points per game in 2023-24, but the senior has taken her game to another level so far this year. She’s produced 15.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.0 assists, all personal bests if she maintains that pace, and she’s made 42.9% of her triples.

Duke women’s basketball jumps within top 10 of USA TODAY Sports coaches poll

After a pair of top-10 victories, Duke women’s basketball is now the highest-ranked ACC team in the USA TODAY Sports coaches poll.

The Duke women’s basketball team won three games last week, including a pair of top-10 triumphs over the Kansas State Wildcats and Oklahoma Sooners at the Ball Dawgs Classic, and coaches around the country certainly think the Blue Devils are among the nation’s elite.

Duke rose four spots to ninth in the updated USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll on Tuesday, moving one spot ahead of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to lead all ACC teams in the ranking.

Senior guard [autotag]Reigan Richardson[/autotag] led the charge with a career-high 35 points against the Sooners, a game that earned her Associated Press national player of the week honors. She averaged 23.3 points and made 50.0% of her 3-point attempts for the week, dropping 16 against Kansas State and 19 against Columbia.

The UCLA Bruins, Connecticut Huskies, and Texas Longhorns took the top three spots. South Carolina, the defending national champions and Duke’s next opponent, followed at No. 4 ahead of its Thursday home game against the Blue Devils.

The North Carolina Tar Heels (7-1) followed at No. 15, the third-highest ACC team in the rankings.

Duke women’s basketball star Reigan Richardson named ACC Co-Player of the Week

Duke star Reigan Richardson earned ACC Co-Player of the Week honors on Monday after her 35-point game against Oklahoma.

Duke women’s basketball star [autotag]Reigan Richardson[/autotag] put forth one of the best performances in the program’s recent history last Wednesday, dropping 35 points against the then-No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners team in the Ball Dawgs Classic title game, and she picked up an ACC accolade for the effort.

The conference named her ACC Co-Player of the Week on Monday, splitting the honor between Richardson and Florida State Seminoles guard Ta’Niya Latson.

Richardson, the team’s leading scorer last season, scored 16 points against then-No. 9 Kansas State in the first round of that same tournament before tacking on 19 more against Columbia on Sunday. She averaged 23.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.8 assists between the three games while making 53.8% of her attempts and 50% of her 3-point looks.

The former Georgia Bulldog is no stranger to great performances on big stages for the Blue Devils. She scored 26.5 points per game between Duke’s first two NCAA Tournament bouts last season, including a 28-point effort in the team’s second-round upset of the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Through nine games to start her senior season, the North Carolina native has put up 15.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game while helping the Blue Devils to an 8-1 record. She’s connected on 42.9% of her triples, a marked improvement on her 30.2% clip from distance a season ago.

Duke women’s basketball picks up sixth straight win with 77-61 triumph over Columbia

The Duke women’s basketball team improved to 8-1 on Sunday as Reigan Richardson led the Blue Devils past Columbia.

The Duke women’s basketball team kept rolling on Sunday with a 77-61 victory over the Columbia Lions charged by 19 points from senior guard Reigan Richardson.

The Blue Devils returned to Durham after a resume-changing week in Nevada, defeating the Kansas State Wildcats and Oklahoma Sooners to win the Ball Dawgs Classic and extend their winning streak to five.

Richardson, who scored 35 points in the title game against the Sooners, picked up right where she left off at Cameron Indoor Stadium. She set up Jadyn Donovan for an opening layup less than a minute into the game and added seven points of her own before the end of the opening frame, including a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left on the clock to build a 25-15 lead.

Richardson ended the game with 19 points and seven rebounds, making two of her three 3-point looks and eight of her 14 shots overall.

The Lions closed within eight points with 1:29 left to play before halftime, but Vanessa de Jesus knocked down a triple before assisting another Donovan bucket in the final 10 seconds. In an instant, a potential second-half nailbiter became a 43-30 Duke lead.

The Lions notched 21 third-quarter points as they tried to claw back into the contest, but seven more points from Richardson helped the Blue Devils produce 20 points of their own to stay ahead. Columbia never closed within 12 in the final frame.

de Jesus and Oluchi Okananwa came off the bench and combined for 14 points and 10 assists in just 39 minutes, and star freshman Toby Fournier added 10 points of her own for her sixth double-digit performance in nine games.

Solid win for us. Got contributions from a lot of players,” head coach Kara Lawson said after the game. “We continue to get good production off our bench, which is necessary.”

The Blue Devils get three days off now before a Thursday road trip to South Carolina for a game against the defending national champion Gamecocks.

Duke women’s basketball defeats No. 8 Oklahoma to win Ball Dawgs Classic

Duke women’s basketball defeated its second top-10 opponent in three days on Wednesday, a 109-99 overtime victory over No. 8 Oklahoma.

The Duke women’s basketball team defeated its second top-10 opponent of the week on Wednesday with a 109-99 overtime victory over the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners, a win powered by Reigan Richardson’s statement performance.

The Blue Devils, led by head coach Kara Lawson, took down the Kansas State Wildcats during the first round of the Ball Dawgs Classic on Monday. On the back of a four-game win streak, Duke kept that form going against the Sooners with a 27-point opening quarter.

Oklahoma scored 14 points in the first 4:04, taking a nine-point lead in the early going, but the Blue Devils stacked 10 points in the next two minutes to retake the lead. Sophomore forward Jordan Wood provided three of those five baskets in part of a 13-point performance off the bench,

Richardson stole the show from there. The Blue Devils’ leading scorer from last season scored five points in the closing two minutes of the quarter thanks to a trio of free throws, giving Duke a 27-20 lead after 10 minutes.

The Blue Devils slowly built their advantage in the second quarter, taking an 11-point lead into the break, and the Sooners could only trim that advantage to seven during the third quarter. The Oklahoma offense caught fire at the right time, however, rattling off a 15-6 run in the middle of the fourth that tied the game at 73 points apiece with 4:49 to play.

Once again, Duke’s star returner came through. Richardson buried a 3-pointer to retake the lead just seconds later, one of two fourth-quarter triples for her. Even with Oklahoma’s Payton Verhulst burying a buzzer-beater to force overtime, Richardson scored five of the first six points in the additional period to put her team in front once again.

Richardson ended the game with 35 points, making 13 of her 22 shots from the floor and five of her nine 3-point attempts. She also doled out seven assists to help produce almost half of the team’s points. The Blue Devils outscored the Sooners 15-5 in the additional frame for a comfortable victory.

“One of the best games I’ve been a part of as a coach,” Lawson said. “In order to have a great game, it takes two good teams. They’re really good. We knew that coming in.”

Ashlon Jackson drops 30 points to help Duke defeat No. 10 Kansas State

Duke women’s basketball took down No. 10 Kansas State on Monday thanks to a 30-point performance from Ashlon Jackson.

The Duke women’s basketball team took down another top-25 team on Monday, opening the Ball Dawgs Classic out in Nevada with a 73-62 victory over No. 10 Kansas State.

The Blue Devils rode into town on the back of three straight victories, but the Wildcats won each of their first five games and they looked primed to continue that form in the opening minutes.

KSU scored the game’s first 11 points, holding Duke scoreless until the 6:35 mark of the first quarter. Facing a 16-8 deficit with three minutes left in the frame, however, the Blue Devils finally began to stir. Jadyn Donovan, Ashlon Jackson, and Reigan Richardson combined to make four shots in a two-minute span, with Richardson earning a whistle for an additional point on the last of them to stunningly take a one-point lead.

From there, Jackson grabbed complete control of the game in the second quarter. She made all four of her 3-point looks during the 10-minute period, including three in the final 5:13, to tie a school record with 16 points in a single quarter and open up a 37-31 advantage at the halfway point.

“The energy was crazy from my teammates,” Jackson said after the game. “It just felt great. My teammates have the utmost confidence in me. That’s what keeps me going.”

Jackson finished the afternoon with a career-high 30 points, making six of her nine 3-point attempts, and she added three rebounds and a pair of steals.

“Ashlon was the best player on the floor offensively and defensively,” head coach Kara Lawson said afterward.

The Blue Devils outscored the Wildcats by six points in the third quarter, effectively removing the drama from the final 10 minutes. Reigan Richardson ended with 16 points, the second-most of any player on the team, and Taina Mair and Delaney Thomas combined for 15 rebounds.

Duke will face the winner of Monday’s game between the Oklahoma Sooners and DePaul Blue Demons in Wednesday’s title game for the Ball Dawgs Classic crown.

Duke women’s basketball narrowly misses top 10 of preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

USA TODAY Sports released its preseason women’s basketball coaches poll on Thursday. Check out where the Blue Devils ended up here.

USA TODAY Sports released the preseason women’s basketball coaches poll on Thursday, and the Duke Blue Devils ended up in the exact same spot as they did in the Associated Press rankings.

The Blue Devils came in 11th in the poll, finishing just eight points behind the Oklahoma Sooners for a spot in the top 10.

The South Carolina Gamecocks, the defending national champions after last season’s undefeated campaign, finished with all but four of the first-place votes to start the year in the top spot.

Looking at the ACC, only the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and NC State Wolfpack finished with more points than the Blue Devils. Those same two teams were the only two above Duke in the ACC’s preseason poll as head coach Kara Lawson and her team were picked to finish third in the conference.

After last year’s Sweet 16 run included a regular-season win over the Wolfpack and a second-round upset of the Ohio State Buckeyes, each of Duke’s top four scorers return for the 2024-25 season. Reigan Richardson, who led the roster with 12.4 points per game, was named to the Preseason All-ACC Team, and five-star freshman Toby Fournier led the Newcomer of the Year Watch List voting.

Check out the complete Coaches Poll below.

Rank	School (Last Year’s Record)	Points	First Place Votes
1	South Carolina (38-0)	770	27
2	Connecticut (33-6)	734	3
3	Southern California (29-6)	716	1
4	Texas (33-5)	670	–
5	Notre Dame (28-7)	629	–
6	UCLA (27-7)	612	–
7	LSU (31-6)	567	–
8	North Carolina State (31-7)	533	–
9	Iowa State (21-12)	487	–
10	Oklahoma (23-10)	457	–
11	Duke (22-12)	449	–
12	Baylor (26-8)	434	–
13	Kansas State (26-8)	407	–
14	Ohio State (26-6)	405	–
15	West Virginia (25-8)	285	–
16	North Carolina (20-13)	263	–
17	Louisville (24-10)	261	–
18	Maryland (19-14)	254	–
19	Florida State (23-11)	177	–
20	Creighton (26-6)	150	–
21	Mississippi (24-9)	135	–
22	Kentucky (12-20)	106	–
23	Nebraska (23-12)	92	–
24	Indiana (26-6)	75	–
25	Alabama (24-10)	57	–

Receiving Votes

Gonzaga 49; TCU 37; Tennessee 32; Stanford 32; Iowa 28; Utah 25; South Dakota State 22; Oregon State 21; Princeton 18; Colorado 15; Virginia Tech 10; Illinois 9; Middle Tennessee 8; Fairfield 7; Richmond 6; California 6; Auburn 5; UNLV 4; Miami (FL) 4; FGCU 4; South Florida 3; George Mason 2; Saint Joseph’s 1; Michigan 1; Cleveland State 1

Duke women’s basketball star Reigan Richardson named to Preseason All-ACC Team

The ACC released its Preseason All-ACC Team for the 2024-25 women’s basketball season on Tuesday, and one Blue Devil made the list.

Reigan Richardson, the leading scorer on the Duke women’s basketball team last season, made the Preseason All-ACC Team on Tuesday.

Richardson averaged 12.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.0 steals per game in 2023-24.

Her biggest moment came in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament when she scored 25 points against Richmond and 28 points against the Ohio State Buckeyes while shooting 58.3% from the floor and 62.5% from 3-point range. The two performances helped propel Duke to the Sweet 16 for the first time in six years.

Richardson put together seven 20-point performances throughout her junior season, including 23 points against Notre Dame and 22 points against Virginia Tech, and she added 15 points to Duke’s top-10 upset of the NC State Wolfpack in February.

Richardson earned 202 points in the All-ACC voting, the ninth-most in the conference. No other Blue Devil finished within the top 10 despite Duke finishing third in the predicted standings.

Fighting Irish star Hannah Hidalgo led the way with a staggering 921 points, including 62 Player of the Year votes on 79 total ballots. Two other Notre Dame players finished on the all-conference team while NC State and Florida State also had multiple players on the roster.