Duke women’s basketball to face Lehigh to open March Madness in 2025 NCAA Tournament
Duke women's basketball hit another level of excellence under fifth-year coach Kara Lawson this season, winning its first ACC tournament title since 2013 and knocking off Louisville, Notre Dame and NC State in the process.
The Blue Devils (26-7) are on a six-game win streak with five of them coming over NCAA Tournament-projected teams. Five of Duke's wins this season have come against AP Top 10 teams and Lawson sits just six wins shy of 100 for her career — the same number of wins it will take the Devils to secure a national championship. That would be a first for Duke women's basketball, which finished as national runner-up in 1999 and 2006, and also reached the Final Four in 2002 and '03.
Last year's Duke squad reached the Sweet 16 as a No. 7 seed, knocking off No. 2 Ohio State before falling to No. 3 UConn, which would go on to the Final Four.
Watch Duke women's basketball in NCAA Tournament on ESPN+
Who does Duke women's basketball play in March Madness?
The Blue Devils earned the No. 2 seed in the Birmingham Region by the selection committee and will host No. 15 Lehigh (27-6) in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The winner of that game will advance to play either No. 7 Vanderbilt or No. 10 Oregon.
How far will Duke go in 2025 NCAA Tournament?
The Blue Devils are one of the nation's peskiest defensive teams, and defense travels. The scrappy squad led by ACC Rookie of the Year Toby Fournier's 13.4 points per game. Oluchi Okananwa is coming off an ACC tournament MVP performance, and Ashlon Jackson is an All-ACC senior guard. This team just defeated the only two ACC teams seeded higher for March Madness, and it's set to go deeper than last season's Sweet 16.
Monica Holland is a sports editor for the USA TODAY Sports Network's Center for Community Journalism. You may reach her at mholland@fayobserver.com and you can follow her on X @MonicaHolland1.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke vs. Lehigh in March Madness, 2025 Women’s NCAA Tournament
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