WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Sydney Woodley brought the ball into the front court and dribbled out the remaining final few seconds.
As the clock was set to expire on West Virginia’s 57-49 win over 15th-ranked Duke, Celia Riviere let her emotions out and encouraged a majority of the 1,210 inside Colonial Hall at The Greenbrier Resort to join in on the celebration.
Woodley and Riviere were two of five Mountaineers available for the entire second half after six WVU players were ejected prior to the start of the third quarter. The Blue Devils led 23-20 at that time, but the Mountaineers went on top to stay at the 8:21 mark of the third quarter en route to securing a marquee and highly notable victory.
“You see these moments on TV where everybody is like lost for words and I’m always like how do we not have words? This is one of those moments where in time I’ll reflect a little bit more and have a little more elegant talk for you guys,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. “But for now I’m going to enjoy the heck out of it, because that was a big-time win.”
Mountaineer senior Sydney Shaw led all players with 16 points in the memorable triumph and was the team’s only starter not ejected as a result of a dust-up between West Virginia’s Jordan Harrison and Duke’s Jordan Wood. In addition to Harrison and Wood being thrown out due to flagrant 2 fouls, the Mountaineers’ Jordan Thomas, Kierra ‘MeMe’ Wheeler, Gia Cooke, Carter McCray and Maddie Parrish were disqualified for leaving the bench and coming on the court.
Cooke scored a dozen first-half points, while Wheeler and Harrison combined for the other eight, meaning no WVU player available after halftime had scored through 20 minutes.
That didn’t prevent the Mountaineers from dominating the third quarter. Less than 6 minutes into the frame, West Virginia matched its first-half offensive output and went on to outscore the Blue Devils 24-9 in the third to take control.
“It was happening really quickly and we were more so focused on stop, score, stop, score and mostly getting stops,” Shaw said. “Towards the end, when we knew it was for the most part locked in and looked at the score, I was like, ‘Wow, we really did that.’”
Shaw began the third quarter by sinking two free throws, a sign of things to come for WVU. The Mountaineers converted 9-of-12 foul shots that period, 14 of 18 in the second half and 20 of 26 for the game.
“We were in the moment and came up with a few tweaks at halftime, and kind of even came up with a new offense quickly and a few wrinkles just to try and find anything,” Kellogg said. “Not that it was great, but we may have stole a few points. Getting to the free-throw line so much in the third quarter was a benefit for us, because it kept stopping the action. That was actually pretty crucial. Probably not a lot of fun to watch, but we were going to the free-throw line a lot and I’m telling them catch your breath.”
As important as free-throw shooting was, the Mountaineers’ ability to rebound was every bit if not more imperative to the outcome. WVU won the second-half board battle 19-17 and out-rebounded the Blue Devils 36-33 for the game. Riviere was a major reason why. She made her presence felt and then some, matching her career-high totals of 12 points and eight rebounds. Riviere picked up her fourth foul with 6:14 remaining, but avoided fouling out, which would have caused WVU to play 4-on-5.
Woodley was her usual self defensively, pressuring the ball and pestering the Blue Devils while accounting for a bucket to go with five rebounds. Riley Makalusky scored all seven of her points in the third quarter and was a steady and important defender manning the middle of the Mountaineers’ zone defense. Logan Johnson, who did not attempt a shot or score, was critical to defensive success and did her part to minimize the Blue Devils’ high percentage shots while adding a pair of steals.
“We do play quite a bit of zone, so that’s not completely unusual for us,” Kellogg said. “Not nearly as much as what we did, but it was working and maybe they were a little stagnant at times or just couldn’t quite get the looks that they wanted.
“But we did a really good job rebounding. I was probably most concerned about transition defense and rebounding the basketball. In the second half, we said don’t even try to offensive rebound, Woodley stop the ball and turn their point guard, and everybody else, get your butt back, especially when CC got four fouls. Don’t even think about it. Get back, see if we can keep them in front and grind it out.“
That’s precisely what the Mountaineers did while improving to 4-0 in the most quirky fashion possible.
“I didn’t have them ready after everything that happened before halftime,” Duke coach Kara Lawson said. “They were ready to play and compete and we were not. The thing I love about basketball, even in moments like this, you have to earn your wins and it goes to the best competitors. They were the better competitors in the second half and deserved to win the game.”