The West Virginia women’s basketball team upset No. 11 Duke, 57-49, on Friday despite losing its entire bench during a skirmish at the end of the second quarter that led to seven total ejections between both teams.
The incident happened at the halftime buzzer at Colonial Hall in West Virginia as the Blue Devils led the Mountaineers 23-20. Duke forward Jordan Wood blocked West Virginia guard Jordan Harrison’s 3-point shot attempt as time expired and appeared to yell ‘Let’s go,’ in Harrison’s direction following the play. Harrison subsequently pushed Wood, which caused pushing and shoving to momentarily break out between both teams.
Both Wood and Harrison were assessed Flagrant 2 fouls for fighting and were ejected. Duke guard Ashlon Jackson and center Ari Roberson were given Flagrant 1 fouls for making contact during the incident.
West Virginia’s entire bench ran onto the court during the scuffle — Jordan Thomas (starter), Kierra Wheeler (starter), Gia Cooke (starter), Carter McCray and Madison Parrish — and were also ejected, leaving the Mountaineers with only five available players for the entire second half of the contest.
West Virginia still had enough players to pull off an upset.
Despite losing four of its starters to ejection, West Virginia outscored Duke 24-9 in the third quarter and led by as many as 15 points with 4:33 remaining in the game without making any substitutions. Duke went on a 12-1 run to cut the Mountaineers’ lead to four points with 0:37 remaining. West Virginia’s Sydney Shaw came up clutch in the end and hit four free throws to end Duke’s comeback bid and pull off the upset.
West Virginia head coach Mark Kellogg pumped up the crowd after the win, putting his hand to his ear. ‘Come on!’ he shouted as his players celebrated and sang John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ together.
‘Disappointed in the ending of the half. I think we are better than that, we are going to learn a huge lesson,’ Kellogg said after the win. ‘But I think we’ve seen it in sports where things like that happen and you rally together. … I’m so proud of that group of five. I’m proud of the whole team. … That’s as good of a win as I’ve probably had.’
West Virginia outscored Duke 37-26 in the second half. Shaw, the only starter remaining, played 38 minutes and led the way with a team-high 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. The Mountaineers improved to 4-0 on the season.
Duke falls to 2-2 on the season following the loss.
It shot 38% from the field including 2-of-12 from the 3-point line. Only guard Taina Mair reached double-digits for Duke with 10 points, four rebounds and four assists. Jackson was held to nine points and six assists.
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.