MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Senior guard Gia Cooke carried the load for No. 24 West Virginia on Tuesday night in its season opener against Rhode Island at Hope Coliseum.
The Mountaineers needed every bit of it to survive a sluggish start and poor ending, as Cooke scored a game-high 28 points to lead the way in a 68-64 victory over the Rams.
“I tried to set the tone,” said Cooke, one of two returning players from last season’s team who led WVU in scoring at 15 points. “There’s a standard. I know what coach wants from me. I got into a rhythm, kept attacking and put my head down. I got into a good flow.”
Rhode Island, which won 28 games and the Atlantic 10 Conference last season, made 7-of-11 shots to start as the visitors led for the final 5:53 of the opening quarter before settling for a 24-22 advantage after 10 minutes.
URI shot 10 for 17 in the opening frame, which featured seven points from Alex Newson and six on a pair of 3-pointers from Delanie Hill.
“There’s a standard and we don’t feel very good about the win,” Mountaineers’ head coach Mark Kellogg said. “Credit Rhode Island. They kind of played with a nothing to lose mindset in the first quarter.”
Cooke, meanwhile, helped keep the Mountaineers squarely in the matchup by scoring 13 points in the opening period, which WVU made 9-of-10 free-throw attempts in.
WVU dominated with defense in the second quarter, holding URI without a field goal until 6:12 remained. Skylar Forbes responded to the Rams’ first bucket of the frame with a triple to put WVU on top 31-27, and Rhode Island was limited to 1-of-9 shooting in the quarter. After making 4-of-9 triples in the first period, the visitors did not attempt a trey during the second.
“We actually guarded and kept the ball in front, didn’t give them open looks,” Kellogg said. “We controlled the game a little bit better and took better shots finally.”
Cooke capped the first-half scoring with a conventional three-point play 53 seconds before the break, and it enabled the Mountaineers to lead 39-30 at the intermission for their largest lead to that point.
WVU gained its first double-digit lead when Zahirah Walton opened the second-half scoring with a layup, and the advantage grew to 14 when Cooke scored in the paint 2 minutes into the third.
“My intent before the game is to always go in aggressive,” Cooke said. “Coach trusts me.”
But after URI went 14 minutes with eight points, Hill made two 3s to help the Rams cut their deficit to 48-38.
Defense was the story for the remainder of the third, which the Mountaineers concluded leading 52-40.
WVU looked to be in complete control when Walton and Cooke combined for five straight points, including a triple from the game’s high scorer that left WVU with a 60-43 advantage with 6:28 remaining.
The Rams, under first-year head coach Colleen Mullen, refused to give in and answered with a 10-0 spurt that featured six points from Hill and four from Sophia Vital.
“The bookend quarters were not good and that was disappointing,” Kellogg said. “Not a lot of flow offensively. I don’t know if we let our foot off the gas or not, but it turned into a situation and that’s OK.”
Cooke’s trey with 2:11 remaining upped the Mountaineers’ lead to 63-53, but the Rams continued to battle until got to within 65-59 with 49 seconds remaining when Amori Jarrett split two free throws.
A late 3 from Newson left made it a four-point game, and the Rams got the ball back once more in the final seconds following a Mountaineer turnover, but got no closer.
Cooke made 8-of-17 shots and 9-of-12 free throws.
Walton was WVU’s only other double-figure scorer with 12 points, while Forbes scored eight and Khyala Ngodu led all players with eight rebounds.
“There’s a certain way we play and an identity we have here and we didn’t reach that,” Ngodu said.
Hill scored 26 points and made 7-of-10 shots from long range in a losing effort.
“We lost her way too much,” Kellogg said. “She hit a couple with hands in her face and the others she was just way too open. Some of our bad offense led to their easy offense as well.”
Newson added 12 points and Vital accounted for half of her team’s 18 assists — one fewer than WVU managed altogether.
“Didn’t do a great job on the two kids [Hill and Vital] we wanted to key in on the most,” Kellogg said. “Just did not do a very good job.”