WVU Women's Basketball Pulls Off Wildly Remarkable Upset Over No. 15 Duke

The West Virginia women's basketball team just pulled off a pretty rare feat. One you may have never seen before.

The Mountaineers travelled to White Sulphur Springs at The Greenbrier Resort on Friday night for a neutral-site affair with No. 15 Duke, looking to establish themselves as a team worthy of a similar ranking after receiving votes in the last AP women's basketball poll. And not only did the Mountaineers pull off a stunning upset over the Blue Devils, but they managed to do so in a fashion that you're not likely to see happen again anytime soon in college basketball.

At the end of a back-and-forth first half of play with Duke leading 23-20, WVU guard Jordan Harrison and Duke's Jordan Wood got in a confrontation that saw taunts and shoves exchanged, earning both women Flagrant 2 fouls that saw them ejected from the game. However, five more WVU players cleared the bench and rushed onto the floor in an attempt to break up the potential fight, which is also a rule violation that calls for ejection for the rest of the game. That left six Mountaineers ejected, and just five players remaining for the second half.

The Mountaineers proceeded to outscore Duke 22-6 over the next seven minutes of play, and the Mountaineers held a 15-point lead at one point in the contest. And despite forward Celia Riviere racking up four fouls and putting WVU in danger of going down to just four players, the Mountaineers persevered and pulled off a 57-49 win. Riviere managed 12 points and eight rebounds in the second half after playing just two minutes in the first half, and guard Sydney Shaw led the team with 16 points and added seven rebounds.

"I'm disappointed in the ending of the half, and I think we're better than that," head coach Mark Kellogg told ESPNU after the game. "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."

After already getting off to a strong start to the season, the Mountaineers showed how tough they are and persevered in just about the grittiest, most improbable way possible. As football head coach Rich Rodriguez might say, it was a real "hard edge" effort. It will be exciting to see where this team goes next.