It may be only November, but the Duke Blue Devils women’s basketball team found themselves in a game that felt every bit like the pressure and unpredictability of March Madness. Their latest matchup against the West Virginia Mountaineers delivered drama, physicality, ejections, and ultimately, one of the earliest major upsets of the women’s college basketball season. What unfolded on the court was both chaotic and stunning—a game Duke once appeared to control but ultimately let slip away in unforgettable fashion.
The Blue Devils entered the contest as the clear favorites, facing an unranked West Virginia team still establishing its identity early in the season. Yet by halftime, the storyline had shifted from routine non-conference matchup to a surreal scene rarely witnessed at any level of basketball. What began as a contested play in the final seconds of the second quarter spiraled into a skirmish that dramatically altered the game’s outcome.
According to The Athletic’s Denny Alfonso, the turning point came after Duke’s Jordan Wood emphatically blocked West Virginia guard Jordan Harrison’s buzzer-beating three-point attempt. Wood punctuated the block by yelling in Harrison’s face while flexing her arms. Harrison reacted by pushing Wood, and within seconds, players from both benches moved toward the confrontation. Though the chaos lasted only a brief moment before coaches and officials stepped in, the damage was done.
By NCAA rule, any player who leaves the bench area during an on-court altercation receives an automatic ejection. When the officials reviewed the sequence, the punishment was sweeping: seven total players were removed from the game at halftime. Harrison and Wood were ejected for fighting, while five West Virginia players—Gia Cooke, Carter McCray, Madison Parrish, Jordan Thomas, and Kierra Wheeler—were tossed for leaving the bench. Duke’s Ashlon Jackson and Arianna Roberson were assessed flagrant 1 fouls but allowed to remain in the game.
For West Virginia, the consequences were extreme. The Mountaineers were left with only five available players for the entire second half—just enough to put a lineup on the floor, but with no substitutions and no margin for foul trouble. Among those left standing, only Sydney Shaw was a starter. She was joined by reserves Loghan Johnson, Riley Makalusky, Célia Rivière, and Sydney Woodley, a group not expected to shoulder heavy minutes, let alone close out a game against a ranked opponent.
Yet what could have been a breaking point became the spark that ignited one of the most inspired halves of basketball in recent memory. Down players, down momentum, and down to a five-player roster, the Mountaineers emerged from the locker room with renewed focus and unwavering determination.
West Virginia head coach Mark Kellogg described the situation as unlike anything he had experienced.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Kellogg said following the victory. “We had, I think, about two minutes to come up with a really quick game plan. I knew we were going to play the next 20 minutes with five. … We moved some positions, we played a lot of zone.”
What followed was a third quarter that stunned the Blue Devils and electrified the crowd. West Virginia outscored Duke 24–9 in the period, flipping the scoreboard and injecting true belief into a team that, minutes earlier, had looked to be in disarray.
Rivière, who played nearly the entire game, described the mentality shift that allowed the undermanned Mountaineers to rally.
“He told me to play smarter—we just adjusted on defense,” Rivière said in the postgame press conference. “I was really proud of the team, of the coaches, the players. I was really happy to win the game.”
The Mountaineers relied heavily on defensive discipline, smart ball movement, and a zone defense that dared Duke to beat them from the perimeter. With no bench to rotate in fresh legs, West Virginia stayed compact, communicated well, and forced the Blue Devils into difficult shots and rushed possessions. Duke, meanwhile, appeared rattled by the dramatic momentum swing. A game that once seemed comfortably within their grasp was suddenly slipping away.
Even as fatigue crept in during the fourth quarter, the five remaining West Virginia players refused to crumble. They hit timely shots, played through contact, and executed with poise that belied their shorthanded situation. Duke attempted to mount a late comeback, but each surge was met with a Mountaineer response. In the end, West Virginia completed the improbable, sealing an eight-point victory that instantly became one of the biggest early-season shockers in college basketball.
For Duke, the loss is one they will undoubtedly want to forget—but also one that will linger. The team struggled to regain composure after the ejections, and the inability to capitalize on West Virginia’s lack of depth raised serious questions about consistency and in-game resilience. While November losses do not define a season, this one will serve as a reminder that rankings mean little on nights when emotion, momentum, and composure become deciding factors.
For West Virginia, the win signifies far more than just an upset. It represents heart, unity, and the ability to rise to the occasion under the most unlikely circumstances. It was the type of gritty, resilient performance that fans will remember long after the regular season ends—and one that truly brought early March Madness energy into November.
