LSU women’s basketball falls to Duke, 87-85

SACRAMENTO – No. 3 seed Duke’s Ashlon Jackson knocked down a three-pointer as time expired to lift the Blue Devils to an 87-85 victory over the No. 2 seed LSU women’s basketball team Friday night at Golden 1 Center in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament.

With the victory, Duke advanced to the Elite Eight, improving its overall record to 27-8, while the Tigers dropped to 29-6 on the year and their season came to a close with fourth-straight Sweet 16 appearance.

LSU juniors MiLaysia Fulwiley and Mikaylah Williams paced the LSU offense, accounting for over 50 percent of the Tigers’ offense with 28 and 22 points, respectively. Fulwiley’s 28 points was a career high, and she finished with four rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block. Williams also tallied five rebounds.

Fulwiley finished third all-time at LSU in career steals with 98 in the 2025-26 season.

LSU got the scoring started with two made free throws from Williams. Following that, Duke went on a 9-0 scoring run forcing the Tigers to use a timeout with 6:07 left in the first quarter. Coming out of the first break, LSU responded by making it a 13-9 ballgame by the period’s media timeout at 4:09. In the next four minutes, Duke kept LSU at arm’s length with the Tigers cutting the deficit to three three times.

The Blue Devils led the Tigers 24-19 at the close of the first quarter.

Duke began the second quarter outscoring the Tigers, 10-4, pushing its lead out to 11 on a three-pointer from guard Taina Mair. LSU battled with the double-digit deficit and got it to five with an and-one from senior Amiya Joyner. Both teams would trade buckets down the stretch of the first half and Duke would take the 47-40 lead into the locker room.

Fulwiley carried the lion’s share of the Tigers’ scoring output, tallying 18 in the first 20 minutes with one rebound, and two assists.

In the third quarter, LSU recovered from its tough start going on an 11-5 scoring run to give the Tigers a 53-52 advantage on a Williams bucket and free throw following a foul. Both squads went back-and-forth after that lead change with Duke holding a 61-59 lead at the media timeout. Duke would have the 67-65 advantage over LSU at the end of the quarter.

The Blue Devils kicked off the fourth quarter on an 11-4 scoring run to give themselves a 78-67 lead. LSU slowly worked on climbing back into the ballgame, and it was able to get through to the end on an 18-7 run to take the lead on free throws from Williams. Duke’s Jackson made a game-winning three-pointer as zeroes flashed on the game clock.

**LSU PRESS RELEASE**