With a dominant 83–32 win over Norfolk State, Duke walked into one of its busiest stretches of the season-three games in five days. It began on November 14 against West Virginia. Luckily, the Blue Devils were 2-0 against the Mountaineers heading into the night, so they were favored again. It marked only the third meeting between the two programs and the first since November 27, 1996. But nobody expected this to happen!

Yes, West Virginia won. But the spotlight wasn’t on the upset-it was on West Virginia’s five. Those were the only five players left after the Mountaineers’ bench was ejected. And those five fought from start to finish, despite losing 51.1 PPG. 

The game began normally. Duke led 15–11 in the first quarter. Roberson paced the Blue Devils with six points, while Wheeler led the Mountaineers with five. At this time, the Mountaineers were struggling hard. At the under–five-minute media timeout in the second quarter, WVU still had not made a field goal. Their only two points came from Cooke at the free-throw line. 

Luckily for WVU, Duke scored only four in that same stretch. Then Cooke finally broke the drought with a fading midrange jumper. Combined with her earlier free throws, the score tightened to 19–17, still in Duke’s favor. The back-and-forth continued until Cooke went to the bench. And that came out to be the turning point of the game. With the Houston transfer sidelined, West Virginia’s offense stalled again. The pressure mounted. Jordan Harrison attempted a shot, but Duke forward Jordan Wood blocked it. 

Harrison, frustrated after the buzzer, shoved Wood. And that single moment sparked chaos at The Greenbrier. The entire bench rushed onto the court as a brawl broke out. While WVU HC Mark Kellogg sprinted to pull his players back, but the damage was already done.

After nearly 30 minutes of review, officials ejected six Mountaineers and one Blue Devil. Harrison was ejected for the altercation. Cooke, Jordan Thomas, Wheeler, Madison Parrish, and McCray were tossed for leaving the bench area. Wood was ejected for Duke. And, suddenly, West Virginia had no bench rotation left. Five players. No subs. High stakes.

But then WVU went from stunned to relentless. As Duke head coach Kara Lawson later said, “They were the better competitors in the second half.” Senior guard Sydney Shaw and Riviere took over. They attacked the low post, stayed aggressive, dissected Duke’s defense, and passed with precision. The energy inside Colonial Hall exploded with “Let’s go, Mountaineers!” chants.

At the under–five-minute media timeout, WVU led 40–29. Still they pushed on. Riviere picked up her fourth personal foul with six minutes remaining. Even so, she took the ball into the low post and scored a baby hook to extend the lead to 52–37. Duke responded with an 8–0 run to cut the lead to seven with under three minutes left, but the rally fell short. Kellogg called a 30-second timeout.

Out of the huddle, Shaw buried five straight free throws to ice the game. And that was how Mountaineers secured one of the most shocking wins in program history, 57–49. “This is one of those moments where I don’t really know what to say, but this is one of the most special wins I’ve been part of,” Kellogg told ESPNU. Still, it’s only 1–0 and the series continues.

What’s Next for Duke?

For No. 15 Duke, it was a hard but valuable lesson. “They were ready to play and compete, and we were not,” Lawson said postgame. “The thing I love about basketball-even in moments like this-is you have to earn your wins, and it goes to the best competitors.”

It was a down night across the board. Duke shot just 37.5% from the field and 16.7% from three. Only Taina Mair reached double digits. And, Blue Devils leading scorer Toby Fournier was held to nine points. Meanwhile, West Virginia’s five-player lineup came out of halftime like a different team and outscored Duke 24–9 in the third quarter alone.

And now all eyes are on what’s next. Duke still has talent-Mair, Roberson, Emilee Skinner, and Delaney Thomas form a strong core. They’ll look to bounce back when they visit Liberty on Sunday. But the real question is: can they?