Duke women’s basketball’s Toby Fournier is entering her second season with the Blue Devils with a new-standard and next-level confidence.
Fournier, the reigning ACC Rookie of the Year that earned All-ACC First Team and All-Freshman Team honors last season, is coming off a freshman season that saw her average 13.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 36 contests. She was a key part of a Duke team that finished 29-8, claiming the ACC tournament title and making it to the Elite Eight, averaging 20.2 minutes off of the bench.
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She led Duke in five categories: scoring, field goal percentage, field goals, three-point percentage and free throws.
“It’s a different standard this year, because I’m a sophomore, I’m not a freshman, I’m not new to the ACC,” Fournier said at ACC Tipoff in Charlotte on Monday, Oct. 6. “But I think that I’m also… I’ve been preparing myself.”
Heading into her sophomore season with coach Kara Lawson, the 6-foot-2 forward out of Toronto, Ontario, is ready to elevate her game, leaning on the experience she gained last year.
“I feel like freshman year, I was still a little bit timid because I didn’t know exactly what was going on, and there was a lot of different plays that I was trying to learn, and there was just so much that had to develop,” Fournier said. “So I think sophomore year, yes, there’s a new standard, but I’m also going to be able to meet that standard this year.”
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Lawson, entering her sixth season at Duke, has seen the growth in Fournier.
“As a freshman, it’s difficult,” Lawson said at ACC Tipoff. “Everything is new, the terminology is new … She understands it all, and she speaks the language now. A lot of times freshman year you’re just trying to figure out what everybody is saying. Now that you know what everybody is saying, now you can focus on the details and the nuances of the game as opposed to just trying to figure out where you’re supposed to be.”
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That growth will only help the Blue Devils.
“You can see she’s thinking less about where she’s supposed to be and thinking more about what she should be trying to do when she’s where she’s supposed to be,” Lawson said. “That makes a much more dangerous basketball player.”
Duke opens its 2025-26 season on Monday, Nov. 3 in Paris, France, against Baylor in the 2025 Oui-Play Paris.
Anna Snyder covers Duke for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com or follow her @annaesnydr on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke women’s basketball’s Toby Fournier approaches season with ‘new standard’
