It's probably hard to convey just how impressive what WVU women's basketball pulled off in their upset win over No. 15 Duke on Friday night.
The Mountaineers gained a massive win against a highly-ranked Power 5 opponent in non-conference play, yes. That itself is huge for head coach Mark Kellogg and his program. But it was how they pulled out the win that people find impressive.
After a confrontation at the end of the first half between WVU's Jordan Harrison and Duke's Jordan Wood ended with six Mountaineers ejected – Harrison for a flagrant foul, and five others for clearing the bench to break up a potential fight – WVU had to finish with just five players.
And despite trailing by three points at the halftime break, West Virginia outscored Duke 22-6 over the next seven minutes and eventually took a 15-point lead. Foul troubles slowed the Mountaineers down in the end and let Duke cut the lead down to single-digits, but in the end WVU pulled off the improbable. After the game, Kellogg described the rally in near disbelief.
“The grit, the perseverance and the toughness,” Kellogg told On3. “You see it in sports every once in a while when something happens and the team rallies and you start to believe.”
“Every timeout, I kept writing ‘Believe and breathe...when there was about a minute and a half left or something, maybe I took a quick little glance and thought, ‘I think this is about to happen.’”
The win keeps the Mountaineers undefeated on the season at 4-0, and gives them their first ranked win of the year. WVU will return to action as they host Appalachian State at the Hope Coliseum in Morgantown this Thursday at 10:15 AM EST.