Duke Starting Five Finish in Double-Digits in 82-68 Victory Over No. 18 Notre Dame

Sunday, January 4

Durham, N.C.

12 p.m.

Duke University

9-6,4-0ACC

Notre Dame

10-4,2-2ACC

Notre Dame

Duke

Duke Starting Five Finish in Double-Digits in 82-68 Victory Over No. 18 Notre Dame

1/4/2026 2:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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DURHAM, N.C. – All five of Duke's starters scored in double-digits to lead the Blue Devils to a thrilling 82-68 victory over No. 18 Notre Dame in ACC women's basketball action Sunday afternoon in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Senior Taina Mair and sophomore Toby Fournier led the charge on offense, with Mair netting a season-best 23 points and Fournier following with 20 points. Delaney Thomas posted her second double-double of the season, scoring 10 points and adding 12 boards. Ashlon Jackson and Riley Nelson rounded out the double-digit outings, putting away 13 and 11 points, respectively.

The Blue Devils notched their first win over a ranked opponent of the season to push to an 9-6 overall record, including a 4-0 mark in ACC matches, while the Fighting Irish dropped to a 10-4 overall mark and 2-2 in conference.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Notre Dame jumped out to a 6-2 lead before the Blue Devils rattled off six straight points to jump ahead, 8-6, heading into the first media timeout of the day. The Blue Devils held the Fighting Irish without a point for 3:01 and got baskets from Jackson, Nelson and Fournier in the 6-0 spurt.
The Blue Devils continued their intensity coming out of the timeout as Thomas and Fournier finished layups and Mair knocked down a corner three to stretch the lead to nine, 15-6.
Hannah Hidalgo buried a three to end the Irish's scoring drought at 4:53, but Duke had an answer all afternoon as Nelson and Jackson found the bottom of the net from behind the arc on consecutive possessions to make it a 21-11 game and force Notre Dame into a timeout.
The Irish pulled within four, 21-17, with one minute to play, only to have the Blue Devils hit back with an offensive rebound and putback from Jordan Wood and a stepback three from Mair at the buzzer for a 26-17 lead after 10 minutes.
The momentum remained in Duke's favor in the early minutes of the second quarter as the Blue Devils built their lead to 13, 34-21, on a baseline three-pointer from Wood. Defensively, Duke forced Notre Dame into a pair of early turnovers to take a 37-25 lead into the media timeout.
The Blue Devils and Fournier came racing out of the timeout with Fournier scoring two buckets to extend the advantage to 41-25 with 3:31 to play in the half.
A layup from Jackson made it an 18-point game, 43-25, before Notre Dame finished the half on a 9-0 run to cut its deficit to nine, 43-34, at the break.
Hidalgo hit a three to start the third quarter for Notre Dame, but Mair responded with a three of her own to spark a 13-2 run and force the Irish into another called timeout, trailing 56-39.
Scoring was hard to come by for both teams after the timeout, with neither team getting a field goal for over four minutes. The Irish had two free throws and Duke one before Mair ended the Blue Devils' drought with 23 seconds left in the third. Notre Dame capped the period with two buckets in the final 50 seconds to cut Duke's lead to 59-48 with one quarter to play.
Duke and Notre Dame traded baskets in the start the fourth quarter as the Blue Devils always had an answer to maintain their double-digit lead, 66-55, with six minutes remaining.
Nelson drained a three from the left baseline to push the score back to 13, 70-57, and Mair's three-pointer moments later was the dagger to the Irish as the Duke lead stretched to 75-60.
Notre Dame tried to fight its way back into the game, spurred by four points from Hidalgo in the final 2:28 minutes. However, Fournier converted a layup and the Blue Devils knocked in five free throws to seal their 82-68 triumph.
Hidalgo led the Fighting Irish, scoring 22 points, pulling down nine boards, dishing out seven assists and grabbing three steals.

UP NEXT

The Blue Devils head to the West Coast for matchups at Cal and Stanford the following week. Duke takes on the Golden Bears Jan. 8 at 6 p.m. (ET) and the Cardinal Jan. 11 at 5 p.m. (ET).

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