Cougars Historic Season Comes to an End at Duke

Friday, March 20

Durham, N.C.

11:30 AM

College of Charleston

27-6,16-2CAA

No. 3 Duke

25-8,16-2ACC

Col. of Charleston

Duke

3/20/2026 4:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

DURHAM, N.C. – The No. 14 College of Charleston women's basketball team (27-5, 16-2) fell 81-64 to No. 3 Duke (24-8) at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon.

Junior Taryn Barbot poured in a game-high 36 points to go along with six triples against the Blue Devils. This was Taryn's 18th game with 20+ points and her 4th 30+ point game of the year. Taryn's 36 points were the most anyone has scored against Duke this season, and it's the best output by a Cougar in an NCAA Tournament game in Charleston's women's and men's basketball history. Taryn broke the previous NCAA Tournament scoring record of Stacy Harris who scored 25 points against Arizona in the men's 1997 NCAA Tournament.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Barbot twins combined for 12 early points as Taylor Barbot hit a pair of free throws out of the media timeout to give the Cougars a 12-11 advantage with 4:54 left in the first quarter.
Duke closed the quarter on a 14-4 run and took a 25-16 lead into the second stanza.
The Blue Devils outscored the Cougars 20-10 in the second period and took a 45-26 advantage into the break.
Taryn Barbot paced both teams with seven third quarter points as Duke took a 66-41 lead into the fourth quarter.
Taryn Barbot continued her hot shooting as she went 4-for-5 from beyond the arc and poured in 17 fourth quarter points to help the Cougars outscore the Blue Devils 23-15 in the final period. Duke won the contest by a final of 81-64.

LEADING COUGARS

Junior Taryn Barbot poured in a game-high 36 points to go along with six triples. This was Taryn's 18th game with 20+ points and her 4th 30+ point game of the year. Taryn's 36 points were the most points anyone has scored against Duke this season, and it's the best output by a Cougar in an NCAA Tournament game in Charleston's women's and men's basketball history.
Junior Taylor Barbot stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Junior Tyja Beans scored 11 points and collected two steals.
Junior Grace Ezebilo recorded her 25th double-digit rebounding game of the 2025-26 season with 15 boards.

KEY STATS

The Cougars forced 20 Duke turnovers, collected 11 steals and scored 22 points of Blue Devil errors.
CofC outscored Duke 23-15 in the fourth quarter and 38-36 in the second half.
Charleston made 22 of their 25 free throw attempts.
The Blue Devils shot 49.2% from the field, while Charleston shot 26.1% during the game.

OF NOTE

Taryn Barbot scored her 1,715th career point as a Cougar and is the all-time Division I scoring leader in Charleston program history. She's also fourth on Charleston's all-time scoring list.
Taryn Barbot reached the 30-point mark for the fourth time this season and her 36 points were the most anyone has scored against the Blue Devils this year. Additionally, her 36 points are the most by a Cougar in an NCAA Tournament game in Charleston's women's and men's basketball history.
Grace Ezebilo recorded her 25th double-digit rebounding game of the year.
Sophia Tougas collected her 400th career rebound.
Tyja Beans collected her 500th career rebound.
Charleston is now 0-2 all-time against Duke.

2025-26 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

The Charleston women's basketball team reached new heights during the 2025-26 season as the Cougars won two conference titles and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.
During the regular season, the Cougars went 16-2 in CAA play and won the 2025-26 CAA Regular Season Championship by three games. The championship was Charleston's first ever title in Division I program history.
The Cougars' 16 conference wins set another Division I program milestone.
The top-seeded Cougars won three games in three days to win the 2026 CAA Tournament and earn the program's first conference tournament title.
Taryn Barbot was named the Most Outstanding Performer in the CAA Tournament and made the All-Tournament Team. Taylor Barbot and Grace Ezebilo also earned spots on the All-Tournament Team.
Charleston was the first No. 1 seed since 2017 to win the CAA Championship.
The Cougars 27 wins during the 2025-26 season are a new Division I program best.
Charleston's 12-0 start to conference play was a program best.
Four Cougars earned Coastal Athletic Association postseason honors for the 2025-26 season. Charleston won three major awards as Taryn Barbot earned the CAA Player of the Year award for the second year in a row, Grace Ezebilo garnered the Defensive Player of the Year award and Head Coach Robin Harmony was named the CAA Coach of the Year.
CofC earned back-to-back 25-win seasons for the first time since they did it in three straight years (1979-80 to 1981-82). This is the first time the Cougars have accomplished the feat in their Division I era.
Head Coach Robin Harmony became the winningest coach in Charleston D1 program history and has amassed 122 wins at the helm of the Cougars.
Taryn Barbot became the Cougars' all-time Division I leading scorer and has totaled 1,715 points during her three years at Charleston. Taryn also set a new single season D1 scoring record with her 664 points this year.
Grace Ezebilo set Charleston single-season records in offensive rebounds (158) and total rebounds (397).

QUOTABLES

"I'm really proud of our team," Head Coach Robin Harmony said. "We could've folded, but we fought hard all game and competed for 40 minutes. I'm proud of our kids and coaching staff for their hard work all year. We put a banner in the rafters and set a standard for future teams."

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