Tag: Toby Fournier

Duke women’s basketball dominates on defense yet again in road win over SMU

Freshman Toby Fournier scored 24 points and Duke held SMU to four points in the second quarter during Thursday’s lopsided win over SMU.

Not to alarm any Duke women’s basketball fans, but the Blue Devils rode a dominant defense and a productive night from freshman forward Toby Fournier to yet another blowout win on Thursday night.

Fournier scored 24 points in 26 minutes, her fifth 20-point performance of the season, and Duke allowed four second-quarter points in the 81-46 road win over the SMU Mustangs.

While the midweek game eventually became a sweat-free victory for the team from Durham, it looked pretty intense through the first 10 minutes. The Mustangs scored 21 points in an electric opening frame, trailing the Blue Devils by just three after they went 8/12 (66.7%) from the floor and 3/5 (60%) from beyond the arc.

Over the next 10 minutes? SMU made one of its 13 shots.

“We didn’t start the way we would’ve hoped defensively,” head coach Kara Lawson said after the game. “Challenged the group at the quarter break. They responded.”

Duke, on the other hand, kept the pedal through the floor. The Blue Devils notched more than 20 points in each of the first three quarters, building a 70-34 lead with one period left on the clock. They made eight of their 12 3-pointers before halftime, a sharpshooting performance predictably led by five triples from Ashlon Jackson, and finished the game at a 47.6% clip from distance.

Fournier, the reigning ACC Rookie of the Week after a 23-point double-double against California, made nine of her 15 looks off the bench. The 6-foot-2 frontcourt star from Canada even made a 3-pointer for the second straight contest, giving her three makes on eight attempts for the season. The freshman sensation tallied seven rebounds and a block before the end of the night, and she’s averaging 13.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks for the year.

The Blue Devils (16-4, 7-1) have now won four straight games and six of their last seven, and Lawson has her team on an absolute heater defensively. Duke has surrendered 45.3 points over its last six games, and the Virginia Cavaliers are the only team to surpass 50 against the Blue Devils in regulation since January 2.

Duke women’s basketball jumps back into the top 15 of women’s basketball coaches poll

The Duke Blue Devils climbed back into the top 15 of the USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll on Tuesday.

The Duke Blue Devils won both of their games last week by 59 combined points, a pair of dominant displays against new ACC members California and Stanford. With five victories in their last six games, the Blue Devils rose two spots to No. 14 in the updated USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll on Tuesday.

Toby Fournier, who picked up her third ACC Rookie of the Week award on Monday, put together her first career double-double against the Golden Bears with 23 points and 11 rebounds. The Blue Devils held California to just 38 points, the lowest total for a ranked opponent in school history, and Duke’s 59.2 points allowed per contest are second only to the North Carolina Tar Heels among ACC teams.

The Tar Heels beat Duke in Chapel Hill last week, and the head-to-head triumph kept UNC one spot above the Blue Devils at No. 13. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (No. 3) are the only ACC team higher than the Tobacco Road rivals.

Head coach Kara Lawson and her team get a chance at a fourth ranked win this coming Sunday with a road game against No. 18 Georgia Tech, but the SMU Mustangs await first on Thursday.

Duke freshman Toby Fournier named ACC Rookie of the Week

Thanks to a pair of big games, Duke freshman Toby Fournier was named ACC Rookie of the Week for her third time.

Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but there’s a basketball team dominating in Durham right now thanks to a dominant freshman.

Duke women’s basketball freshman [autotag]Toby Fournier[/autotag], a five-star forward recruit, was named the ACC Rookie of the Week for January 13-19 on Monday. This is the third time this season she’s received this honor and the first time since early December.

The Blue Devils played twice this past week and ended up with two blowout victories over Cal and Stanford, winning by a combined 59 points and surrendering 43.5 per game.

Fournier, as she has been all season, was been a big reason for those big wins. She scored 23 points and snagged 11 rebounds against the Golden Bears, her first career double-double, thanks to a 7/10 (70.0%) game from the field.

With nine more points and six boards against the Cardinal, including her second made 3-pointer of the season, Fournier averaged 11.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per night.

On the heels of a three-game win streak, Duke and Fournier will look to continue things against the SMU Mustangs on Thursday.

Duke women’s basketball dominates No. 18 California for 34-point ranked victory

Toby Fournier and Ashlon Jackson outscored the No. 18 California Golden Bears by themselves in Thursday’s statement Duke victory.

The Duke women’s basketball team added yet another top-25 win to its resume on Thursday night, and this one might be the most impressive yet.

Freshman forward Toby Fournier and junior guard Ashlon Jackson combined to score 39 points in a 72-38 victory over No. 18 California, setting a new program record for the fewest points allowed to a ranked opponent.

The Blue Devils had been on a run of impressive defensive form entering the midweek game, allowing 46.3 points and letting opponents shoot just 34.5% from the field over their last three games, but they took it to another level in front of the Cameron Crazies.

The Golden Bears, in their first year as members of the ACC, came to Durham with a 16-2 record and four wins in their first five conference games. They proceeded to make just eight shots from the field in the first half, turning the ball over 31 times and ending the night just 2/12 (16.7%) from behind the arc.

Five different California players averaged at least 10.0 points through its first 18 games, but none of the Golden Bears cracked double digits on Thursday. The five Cal starters went 29.0% (9/31) from the field.

On the offensive side for the home team, Fournier continued to stack impressive performances in her first collegiate season. The five-star talent routinely won post possessions against the Golden Bears, spinning around defenders to find a path to the glass.

In one particularly telling sequence in the final seconds of the third quarter, Fournier gestured for the ball down low, but teammate Jordan Wood instead dished the ball to an open Vanessa de Jesus at the top of the key. Fournier threw up a second hand as she wheeled back into the empty paint, giving zero regard to the attention she called toward herself. She wanted the ball.

de Jesus obliged, and Fournier planted on one foot and swirled around to beat the resulting defensive crash. Two more points.

Fournier finished with seven buckets on 10 attempts, making nine of her 10 free throws to end up with 23 points. It’s her third 20-point performance of the season and her first since December 18 against Wofford, and she tacked on 11 rebounds for her first-ever double-double.

Jackson made four 3-pointers to add 16 points to the final score, and Reigan Richardson went 6/12 from the field for 14 points. Jadyn Donovan and Taina Mair both contributed four steals to the defensive line, more than half of the team’s 15 for the evening.

Duke finished the game with 39 rebounds to California’s 28, and the Blue Devils scored 32 points off turnovers.

Duke women’s basketball can’t overcome first-half hole in South Florida loss

The Blue Devils lost for the third time this season on Saturday afternoon, unable to overcome a 14-point deficit after one quarter.

The Duke women’s basketball team coasted into Tampa this weekend after eight wins in its last nine games, but the underdog South Florida Bulls put the Blue Devils on their back foot from the opening buzzer.

Head coach Kara Lawson and her squad failed to put double-digit points on the board in either of the first two quarters, creating a halftime deficit too big to overcome in the 65-56 loss to USF.

Duke made just three shots from the floor over the first 10 minutes, experiencing multiple four-minute scoreless spells that dropped the Blue Devils down by 14 points through one quarter of the contest.

Those stats might make it sound like poor shooting is to blame for the early lull, but the Duke offense just couldn’t keep its hands on the ball. The Blue Devils gave the ball away eight times in the first quarter, part of 14 turnovers for the afternoon that created 11 South Florida points.

The efficiency didn’t improve in the second frame, and it felt like South Florida was playing an entirely different sport given its offensive firepower. USF knocked down contested shot after contested shot, finding nylon on stepback 3-pointers and fadeaway jumpers at eyebrow-raising pace.

It all added up to a 33-15 halftime lead for the Bulls, and even with Duke scoring 41 points after the break, South Florida wouldn’t relinquish the advantage far enough. USF only took nine 3-pointers for the game, but it made five of them, and Sammie Puisis and L’or Mputu combined for 40 points just between the two of them.

Freshman forward Toby Fournier came off the bench for 11 points, the only Blue Devil to end the day in double digits. The Bulls shot 46.0% from the floor to Duke’s 38.9%.

Duke won’t play again until after the turn of the calendar year, but even with an extended break to ruminate on Saturday’s upset, the non-conference schedule met expectations for the Blue Devils. Lawson’s squad will start ACC play as one of seven teams with 10 wins already after the 10-3 start.

Duke freshman Toby Fournier notches second straight 20-point game in Wofford win

Toby Fournier and Oluchi Okananwa teamed for 43 points in a convincing Duke women’s basketball victory over Wofford on Wednesday.

The Duke women’s basketball team played its first game in 10 days on Wednesday night, but the Blue Devils sure didn’t look like a team that needed to shake off any rust.

After more than a week off, Duke held Wofford to just seven first-quarter points in a 93-58 win powered by freshman [autotag]Toby Fournier[/autotag] and sophomore [autotag]Oluchi Okananwa[/autotag] off the bench.

The five-star freshman didn’t begin Wednesday’s game on the floor, but she still put Duke’s first eight points on the board thanks to a trio of layups and a pair of free throws. Senior star Reigan Richardson assisted on each of the first two, part of her career-high 10 dimes for the outing.

Fournier reached 10 points on her own with 3:40 left in the first quarter, her eighth double-digit performance in Duke’s first 12 games. The Terriers only made three shots from the floor in the opening frame, and Fournier outscored the road team by herself in a 22-7 quarter.

Fournier ended the first half with 16 points, part of her 23 for the game. It’s the first-year forward’s third 20-point outing of the season and her second in a row after she dropped 27 on Virginia Tech in the ACC opener. She’s averaged 1.04 points per minute in the last two games.

Okananwa, the reigning ACC Sixth Person of the Year, took over for the final 20 minutes. She put seven points on the board in a two-minute flurry early in the third, putting a stamp on her personal run with a triple to open up a 53-25 advantage. With three more baskets in the closing quarter, Okananwa contributed 13 of her 20 points after the midway point.

Okananwa made nine of her 14 shots from the floor, but her real work came off the ball in one of the most well-rounded box scores of the season. The second-year Blue Devil ended up with six rebounds, five assists, and four steals.

Duke’s defense couldn’t quite match its 28-point pace from the first 10 minutes, but Wofford never picked up any steam until the game was well out of reach. The Terriers didn’t reach 20 points for the evening until the final two minutes of the first half, and they finished the game just 22/65 (33.8%) from the field and 7/28 (25.0%) from 3-point range.

The Blue Devils won all four quarters, two of them by at least 10 points, in the 35-point triumph.

Duke, now 10-2 for the season and riding a two-game win streak, will head to Tampa for a road game against South Florida this Saturday.

Toby Fournier leads Duke women’s basketball to dominant victory in ACC opener

The Duke women’s basketball team cruised against Virginia Tech on Sunday thanks to a 27-point outing from star freshman Toby Fournier.

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.

Duke women’s basketball star Toby Fournier named ACC Rookie of the Week

After a 25-point explosion against Belmont on Thursday, Duke women’s basketball freshman Toby Fournier was named the ACC Rookie of the Week.

Duke women’s basketball freshman [autotag]Toby Fournier[/autotag] earned the ACC Rookie of the Week title on Monday after her 25-point game against Belmont.

The Blue Devils beat the Bruins 79-47 thanks to the best game of the five-star forward’s debut season thus far. The Canadian made 10 of her 15 shots from the floor, including her first career 3-pointer, and added on six rebounds and three blocks in just 25 minutes.

Through six games in her first season with the program, Fournier has scored at least 10 points five different times. She’s averaged 14.5 points per game, the most of any Blue Devil, as well as 5.2 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, and 1.0 steals, and she reaches the free-throw line 4.8 times per game.

All of that production has come while averaging just 19.3 minutes on the court.

Fournier becomes the first Duke women’s basketball player to win one of the conference’s weekly awards, but men’s basketball stars [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag] have swept the three Rookie of the Week awards on their side.

Duke women’s basketball remains second-highest ACC team in AP Poll

Ahead of a Monday afternoon matchup with Kansas State, the Duke women’s basketball team moved up one spot in the AP Poll.

The Duke women’s basketball team takes on one of its toughest non-conference opponents of the year on Monday afternoon, but the Blue Devils got some appreciation from the voters beforehand.

The Blue Devils moved up one spot to No. 13 in the updated AP Top 25 women’s college basketball poll on Monday, keeping them as the second-highest ACC team. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, after a massive win over the USC Trojans, jumped up to No. 3.

Duke will have at least two chances at a signature victory over the next two weeks. The Blue Devils face Kansas State, a team that moved up to No. 9 in the AP Poll, on Monday afternoon in the first round of the Ball Dawgs Classic in Nevada. If Duke wins, it will likely face the Oklahoma Sooners (who moved up to No. 8) in the title match of the four-team tournament before heading to South Carolina for a matchup with the defending national champion Gamecocks.

Dawn Staley and South Carolina finally looked mortal on Sunday, losing a game for the first time since 2022-23 when the UCLA Bruins handed them a 77-62 defeat. The Gamecocks still only dropped to No. 4 in the AP Poll.

The North Carolina Tar Heels remained No. 16, and the NC State Wolfpack (No. 20) and Louisville Cardinals (No. 24) are the only other teams from the conference within the rankings.

Toby Fournier scores 25 points as Duke women’s basketball beats Belmont

The Duke women’s basketball team won its third straight game on Thursday night as five-star freshman Toby Fournier scored 25 points.

The Duke women’s basketball team won its third straight game on Thursday night as five-star freshman Toby Fournier wreaked havoc against Belmont with 25 points.

The Blue Devils moved back up to No. 14 in the USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll after its Sunday win over South Dakota State, and Duke wasted no time extending that momentum in front of the home crowd at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

After the Bruins took an early 9-5 lead with four of the game’s first six baskets, Kara Lawson’s squad erupted for the final 12 points of the opening quarter. Fournier, a top-10 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Recruiting Rankings, powered that surge with six points in the final five minutes.

The 6-foot-2 forward dominated the final minutes of the second quarter in similar fashion. After not adding to her total over the first six minutes of the frame, she scored twice in a 25-second span to help Duke double the Bruins.

Two free throws and another layup later, Fournier returned to the locker room with 16 points (already a career-high) in a 40-17 game. The Duke defense held Belmont under 10 points in both early quarters, and the Blue Devils could cruise to a 79-47 victory over the remaining 20 minutes.

Fournier put an exclamation point on her night in the final minute of the third quarter when she grabbed a pass from guard Vanessa de Jesus and turned around to see herself entirely alone at the top of the key. The freshman put up a 3-point shot, only the second deep attempt of her career, and found the net for her first collegiate triple.

Fournier made 10 of her 15 shots from the floor for the night, pulling down six rebounds and blocking three shots. She’s now averaging 14.5 points, the most of any Blue Devil, with 5.2 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, and 1.0 steals to start her debut season.

“Our team has a great deal of trust in one another and a great deal of excitement for the success of each other,” Lawson said after the game. “That’s pivotal on a team. It’s someone else’s night every night. They play really well together and try to make the right plays.”

Ashlon Jackson, who entered Thursday’s game as the team’s leading scorer, added 14 points herself with a pair of 3-pointers, and reigning ACC Sixth Person of the Year Oluchi Okananwa provided 15 points off the bench thanks to a six-for-seven night shooting.

The Blue Devils get the weekend to themselves before a Monday afternoon game against Kansas State, the first part of the Ball Dawgs Classic out in Nevada.