Duke Falls Just Short to No. 1 Seed South Carolina, 54-50

Sunday, March 30

Birmingham, Ala.

1 p.m.

Duke University

29-8,14-4ACC

South Carolina

34-3,15-1SEC

Duke

South Carolina

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke Falls Just Short to No. 1 Seed South Carolina, 54-50

3/30/2025 5:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Duke freshman Toby Fournier scored 18 points, blocked three shots and pulled down six rebounds, but a 16-8 fourth quarter by South Carolina was the difference as the top-seeded Gamecocks held off the second-seeded Blue Devils, 54-50, in NCAA Women's Basketball Elite Eight action at Legacy Arena Sunday afternoon.

With Duke trailing by four with one minute to play in regulation, Oluchi Okananwa drove the baseline to make it a one-possession game again, 52-50. South Carolina missed a layup but got the offensive rebound for another attempt to push the lead back to four. Duke junior Ashlon Jackson, however, delivered another huge defensive play, drawing a charge against South Carolina's Bree Hall to give Duke the ball back with 29.8 seconds left in regulation and down just two.

Coming out of the timeout, Jackson got a good look from distance but came up short. South Carolina pulled in the rebound with 6.4 seconds left with Chloe Kitts sinking two free throws to ice the victory. Kitts led the Gamecocks with 14 points, eight of which came in the fourth quarter.

Fournier, on the strength of today's effort, was named to the Birmingham 2 Region All-Tournament Team. Jackson posted 13 points, six assists and collected three rebounds to finish her weekend with 23 points, seven assists and four rebounds to garner a spot on the All-Tournament team as well. Okananwa led the charge on the glass for Duke with seven.

HOW IT HAPPENED

South Carolina raced out to a 10-2 lead in the first six minutes, holding Duke to 1-of-7 shooting in the early going.
Fournier started to find her rhythm in the offensive paint, scoring Duke's next seven points, including a three from the left wing, to bring the Blue Devils within four, 13-9. The Gamecocks continued to have an answer on both ends of the court, stretching it back to six, 16-10, after one quarter.
Duke hit just 25 percent of its shots from the floor in the first 10 minutes while the Gamecocks went 5-of-9 for 56 percent. Both squads turned the ball over four times.
The defensive battle continued into the second quarter with both teams struggling to take care of the basketball. South Carolina, stifling Duke's offense, slowly extended its lead to 25-14 at the 6:16 mark.
While Duke's offense struggled to find success, its defense was stellar, keeping the Blue Devils within striking distance. Duke, holding the Gamecocks without a point for six minutes, chipped away at the lead to pull within four, 26-22, at the half.
Fournier had three points in the 8-1 run to close the half with Ashlon Jackson capping the spurt with her first three-pointer of the afternoon. Duke forced South Carolina into six second-quarter turnovers and held the Gamecocks to just 33 percent shooting.
The Blue Devils picked up right where they left off, scoring the first seven points of the third quarter to take their first lead, 29-26. Jackson drove to the basket for a layup, Jadyn Donovan hit a jumper and Reigan Richardson drained a three before South Carolina got on the board in the stanza. The jumper by Sania Feagin at 7:41 ended the Gamecocks' field goal drought that spanned 8:35 of game clock.
Duke and South Carolina traded baskets over the next few minutes with the Blue Devils clinging to a one-point lead, 33-32, at the media timeout. Duke, behind its suffocating defense, went on a 5-0 run to extend the advantage to six, 38-32 with less than 2:30 to play in the third. South Carolina converted a three-point play and knocked down a pair of free throws in the final seconds of the quarter to send Duke into the final frame with a 42-38 lead.
South Carolina scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to go back in front, 46-42, and force Duke into a time out with 6:03 on the clock. The Gamecocks held the Blue Devils to 0-of-8 shooting to start the period while they hit 3-of-5.
Richardson drained a baseline jumper coming out of the timeout to make it a two-point game. Fournier then finished a layup through contact to tie the game for the fourth time.
The back and forth continued as Feagin hit a layup and Kitts knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to put South Carolina back up four. Fournier, like she had done all afternoon, answered for the Blue Devils to make it a two-point game, 50-48, with 3:21 to play and set up the heartbreaking finish.

NOTES:

Duke closes the door on the 2024-25 season, with the Blue Devils' posting a final record of 29-8. Duke has totaled 29-plus wins 12 times in program history.
The Blue Devils are now 64-27 (.703) all-time in the NCAA Tournament, 25-10 (.714) as the No. 2 seed and 27-8 (.771) overall when earning the automatic bid. The Blue Devils currently own the sixth most NCAA Tournament wins and are sixth all-time in NCAA Tournament games played (91).
Duke held South Carolina 26 points below its average points per game. South Carolina entered the contest putting up 80.5 points per game, marking the 32nd opponent this season the Blue Devils held below their respective scoring average.
Duke owned the glass and finished with a double-digit margin, outrebounding the Gamecocks 41-30, including a 19-6 advantage on the offensive boards. The Blue Devils parlayed those extra possessions into 12 second chance points while outscoring South Carolina off the bench, 24-9.
The Blue Devils held South Carolina to season lows in points (54), field goals made (19) and attempts (44) and assists (7).
oby Fournier paced the Duke offense with 18 points, six boards and three blocks in a career-high 32 minutes off the bench. The contest marked Fournier's 22nd in double figures - tied for eighth most on the Duke freshman charts.
The rookie concludes the season ranked fourth on the Duke freshman charts in free throws (110), fifth in points (462) and field goals (173), eighth in blocks (39), ninth in total rebounds (186) and 10th in points per game (13.2).
Ashlon Jackson chipped in 13 points, six dimes and three rebounds in 33 minutes of action for her 25th double-digit scoring output of the season. The junior drilled a pair of triples during the game to give her 87 on the year - tied for first all-time with Tricia Liston (2013-14) on the Duke single-season chart. Jackson now has 162 threes for her career - good for No. 9 all-time in program lore.
Fournier and Jackson were both named to the Birmingham 2 Region All-Tournament Team for their respective performances.
Reigan Richardson contributed seven points on the afternoon en route to becoming the 36th player in program history to notch 1,000 points as a Blue Devil. The senior achieved the feat with a triple at the 8:00 mark of the third quarter finishing her collegiate career with 1,174 points
Jadyn Donovan recorded two blocks, marking the 12th time this season and 22nd for her career with at least two rejections in a game. With her two blocks, Donovan now has 12 blocks through seven career NCAA Tournament games - tied with Krystal Thomas (08-11) for seventh all-time on the Duke NCAA postseason charts.

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils conclude the season with a 29-8 overall record. Duke advanced to its 12th Elite Eight and first under head coach Kara Lawson.

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