Fournier Powers No. 16 Duke Past No. 24 Florida State, Blue Devils Earn No. 3 Seed in 2025 Ally ACC Tournament

Sunday, March 2

Tallahassee, Fla.

6 p.m.

Duke University

23-7,14-4ACC

Florida State

23-7,13-5ACC

Duke

Florida St.

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Fournier Powers No. 16 Duke Past No. 24 Florida State, Blue Devils Earn No. 3 Seed in 2025 Ally ACC Tournament

3/2/2025 8:14:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Freshman Toby Fournier scored 20 second-half points and finished with a career-high 28 to lead the 16th-ranked Blue Devils to a 71-57 road victory at No. 24 Florida State Sunday evening. The win gives Duke the No. 3 seed in the 2025 Ally ACC Women's Basketball Tournament.

The Blue Devils (23-7, 14-4 ACC), leading by two after three quarters, outscored the Seminoles 22-10 in the fourth period to improve to 23-7 on the year. Fournier finished her night 11-of-15 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free throw line. She also pulled down six rebounds.

Junior Ashlon Jackson dropped in 14 points and classmate Taina Mair had 10 points and five assists. Sophomore Oluchi Okananwa came alive in the second half and finished the game with six points and 10 boards. Defensively, Duke held Florida State (23-7, 13-5 ACC) to its lowest point total in a game this year.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke held a 19-13 lead after the opening 10 minutes of action. The Blue Devils used a 9-0 run midway through the period to turn a two-point deficit into a 13-6 advantage, with the scoring coming via Fournier, Jackson, Mair and Reigan Richardson.
Makayla Timpson's old-fashioned three-point play snapped a four-minute Seminole scoring drought, but four straight from Fournier immediately pushed the Duke lead back to eight, 17-9. Emma Koabel added a stick back in the final 30 seconds, as the Blue Devils took a six-point lead into the next period.
Florida State stormed back in the second quarter, using an 11-4 run to surge ahead, 24-23, taking the lead on Mariana Valenzuela's triple from the corner. The teams traded baskets across the remainder of the half, with Vanessa de Jesus cashing in a triple from the left-side corner in the final minute to give the Blue Devils a 32-31 edge at the break.
Duke and Florida State traded punches in the third quarter. The Blue Devils went ahead by four, 37-33, before the Seminoles used a 7-0 run to jump in front by three, 40-37.
With Fournier leading the charge, Duke rallied from four points down to take a two-point advantage into the fourth quarter, 49-47. Fournier scored the team's final 10 points of the stanza as the Blue Devils held Florida state to two points in the final 4:25. de Jesus dished three assists on Fournier's final four baskets and totaled five assists in the game – all of which came in the second half.
The Fournier show continued in the fourth quarter. The Toronto, Ontario native sank a pair of free throws and dropped in another layup to extend the lead to four in the opening 70 seconds. Okananwa got in on the action, turning a defensive rebound into a fastbreak layup to give the Blue Devils their largest lead since it was 21-15, forcing Florida State into a timeout.
The sophomore guard hit the repeat button and pulled down a rebound and outran the entire Florida State team to stretch the lead to eight points, 57-49. The Blue Devils tacked on four more points for their largest lead of the game, 61-49, with 6:08 remaining.
Florida State cut the lead to nine, but Duke never let up, holding the Seminoles to just 10 points and 27-percent shooting in the quarter to lock down the 14-point victory.

NOTES:

With its 71 points, Duke eclipsed the 70-point threshold for the 21st time in 2024-25. The Blue Devils also posted their 23rd contest with at least three double-figure scorers.
Duke shot 28-of-70 (40%) from the field and 12-of-16 (75%) at the charity stripe, while also knocking down three from distance.
The Blue Devils assisted on 68 percent of their points with 19 helpers on 28 buckets. It marks Duke's 20th game this season with at least 17 assists.
Duke commanded the glass, outrebounding Florida State 51-35. The Blue Devils also won the superlative battle, holding the advantage in four of five categories - points off the bench (39-7), in transition (15-5), second chance opportunities (16-13) and points in the paint (40-38).
The Blue Devils put on a defensive masterclass Sunday afternoon, holding the nation's top-ranked offense to season lows in points (57), field goal percentage (.364), three pointers made (3), free throws made (6) and attempts (9).
The 57 points were 32 below Florida State's scoring average for the year, as the Seminoles entered the matchup putting up 89.3 points per game. FSU marked the 17th ACC opponent, and 25th foe in 2024-25 overall, that Duke has held below its respective scoring average.
The Blue Devils limited the NCAA's top scorer, Taniya Latson, to nine points on 3-of-21 shooting (14.3%) - her worst shooting performance of 2024-25. Latson's nine points was her second-lowest scoring output of the year, just below the eight scored against Jacksonville (12.19).
Freshman Toby Fournier posted her 19th career double-figure game of the season, pacing the Duke offense with a career-high 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting, to go along with six boards. The 28 points is tied for the second-most points off the bench by a Blue Devil and the eighth-most points by a Duke rookie all-time, while Fournier's 11 field goals is tied for the sixth-most by a Duke freshman all-time.
With her 19 games in double figures this season, Fournier moves into a tie for 10th all-time on the Duke freshman charts for most games in double digits. Sunday also marked her ninth 20-point outing of the season, making her one game shy of tying the Duke freshman record of 10 held by Blue Devil greats Alana Beard and Chris Moreland.
Junior Ashlon Jackson turned in her third consecutive and 19th double-digit scoring output of 2024-25 courtesy of a strong all-around performance against the Seminoles. Jackson had her hands all over the stat sheet, putting up 14 points, a season-high six rebounds and four assists.
Taina Mair rounded out Duke's trio in double figures with 10 points, also snagging six boards and dishing out five dimes. For Mair, it marks her ninth game this season with 10-plus points and her 10th game in 2024-25 with at least five assists. The junior continues to quarterback the offense to perfection, racking up 62 dimes to just 19 turnovers (3.3 assist/turnover ratio) over her last 14 outings.
Sophomore Oluchi Okananwa was relentless in the second half, snagging nine of her game-high 10 caroms after the intermission while also adding six points and three assists. Six of Okananwa's boards came in the fourth quarter - tied for No. 5 on the Duke single game charts.
Graduate student Vanessa de Jesus was a steady presence for Duke off the bench, dropping five dimes off the bench, to go with three points.
Sophomore Jadyn Donovan turned in another strong night on the glass, corralling seven caroms and blocking two shots.

UP NEXT:
Duke turns its attention to the postseason, starting with the Ally ACC Tournament slated for March 5-9 in Greensboro, N.C. The Blue Devils are the No. 3 seed and will play Friday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m., live on ACC Network.

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