No. 13 Duke Outlasts Notre Dame, 65-63, to Advance to ACC Title Game

Saturday, March 7

Duluth, Ga.

12 p.m.

Duke University

23-8,16-2ACC

Notre Dame

22-10,12-6ACC

Notre Dame

Duke

Photo by: ANDREW HANCOCK

No. 13 Duke Outlasts Notre Dame, 65-63, to Advance to ACC Title Game

3/7/2026 2:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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DULUTH, Ga. – A blocked shot by Toby Fournier as time expired sent Duke past Notre Dame, 65-63, in the Ally ACC Women's Basketball Tournament semifinals Saturday afternoon inside Gas South Arena.

Fournier finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and four blocks as the top-seeded Blue Devils held off fifth-seeded Notre Dame and are back in the ACC championship game for the second consecutive season. Taina Mair was an offensive force with a team-high 16 points, eight assists and eight rebounds as well as three steals.

Duke (23-8) jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but Notre Dame fought back and led by five in the fourth. The Blue Devils locked down on defense in the final six minutes to pave the way to the comeback. With Duke ahead 57-56 at the 5:53 mark, the Fighting Irish made just three baskets the rest of the way and did not shoot a free throw.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke raced out to a 6-0 lead in the first 1:39, getting to the basket for easy layups. Taina Mair opened the scoring with an offensive board and put-back. Toby Fournier scored a pair of fastbreak buckets to force Notre Dame to burn an early timeout.

The Blue Devils were suffocating on the defensive end, holding Notre Dame to 0-for-7 shooting from the floor and forcing the Fighting Irish into four turnovers en route to a 10-0 start.

Delaney Thomas got in the mix on the offensive end with an old-fashioned three-point play to put Duke up 13, 15-2, before Notre Dame went on a 9-0 run to pull within four, 15-11.

Jordan Wood tipped in a missed three-pointer at the end of the quarter to put Duke up 17-11 at the first break.

Notre Dame (22-10) scored the first two baskets of the second quarter to make it a two-point game as the Blue Devils and Fighting Irish went back and forth. Duke answered with five straight, including a transition three from Ashlon Jackson, to give the Blue Devils a five-point edge early in the second stanza.

Wood came up with another big basket for the Blue Devils with a corner three-pointer to jumpstart a 9-2 run that launched Duke ahead 10, 33-23, with 2:33 remaining in the half.

Hannah Hidalgo scored five points for the Irish in the final 90 seconds, but an Arianna Roberson had an old-fashioned three-point play and a Riley Nelson putback down the stretch sent the Blue Devils into the locker room up 38-31.

Notre Dame put together a 10-2 run to start the third quarter as a KK Bransford three gave the Fighting Irish their first lead of the afternoon, 41-40. Mair slowed the run with a three-pointer, pushing Duke back ahead, 43-41, with 3:51 left in the third period.

The Irish outscored Duke 8-3 in the final three minutes to regain the lead, 49-46, after 30 minutes of action. The momentum stayed in Notre Dame's favor to start the fourth quarter as the Irish extended their lead to five, 51-46.

Nelson brought Duke back within two on a trifecta from the left corner and Thomas crashed the boards for another tip-in to tie the game at 51 apiece.

Notre Dame went back in front, 53-51, before the Blue Devils rattled off the next six points for the 57-53 advantage with over six minutes left to play. A three from Notre Dame's Iyana Moore cut it to 57-56 Duke with 5:53 to go.

From there, Duke's defense took over, holding Notre Dame to just three field goals, all by Hidalgo, and no free throw attempts.

Duke continued to do enough to stay in front and Mair buried a three with 1:47 to put the Blue Devils up 64-60.

Hidalgo did not let Notre Dame go quietly as she drilled a three with 1:10 to play for a 64-63 Duke edge.

Nelson hit a free throw with 52 seconds to go to make it a two-point lead, but Notre Dame had the ball with 51 seconds left. The Fighting Irish took three shots in the final 51 seconds and got each offensive rebound, but the final Moore heave was blocked by Fournier to end the game.

UP NEXT

The Blue Devils advance to the ACC Tournament title game where they will play the winner between Louisville and North Carolina. Tipoff in the championship game is set for 1 p.m., on ESPN.

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