Tag: Toby Fournier

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.

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 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.