West Virginia Upsets No. 15 Duke in Marlee-Filled Meeting; No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 7 Baylor Also Win

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Of three ranked teams playing Friday, No. 15 Duke (2-2), upset on opening day in Paris, France, to fall out of the Top 10 in the first in-season vote Monday in The Associated Press women’s poll, took another hit along with a few others in a free-for-all, losing 57-49 to unbeaten West Virginia (4-0), which had six players tossed at the half in the Greenbrier Tip-Off at White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.

The Mountaineers, coming off a lopsided win over Temple earlier in the week, and Blue Devils got into it as the half ended when Duke’s Jordan Wood blocked a shot from West Virginia starter Jordan Harrison and the two got into a shoving confrontation causing Harrison’s teammates to get into the melee by emptying from the bench, an act that carries an automatic ejection.

 Besides Harrison and Wood, Mountaineers reserves Gia Cooke, Carter McCray, Madison Parrish, Jordan Thomas, and Kierra Wheeler were also tossed, leaving the winners finishing the game with just five players.

Sydney Shaw scored 16 points for West Virginia and reserve Celia Riviere collected 12 points.

“I’m disappointed in the ending of the half,” said Mountaineers coach Mark Kellogg. “I think we’re better than that – we’re going to learn a huge lesson – but I’m so proud of that group of five.”

West Virginia was down 23-20 at the half but opened the third quarter ripping off a 20-6 run on Duke to go up 40-29 with Riviere collecting eight points and Shaw scoring seven.

The Blue Devils, coached by former Tennessee and WNBA Kara Lawson, the current USA Olympic coach, rallied within four points with 37 seconds left before Shaw went 5-of-6 from the line to clinch the contest.

Both teams are off until Thursday when Duke travels to South Florida in Tampa and West Virginia hosts Appalachian State.

Elsewhere No. 6 Oklahoma (3-1) playing a field trip day contest in Norman as Temple did beating Big 5 rival La Salle in Philadelphia got 20 points and 11 boards from Reagan Beers in an 89-61 win over visiting North Alabama (3-1), suffering its first loss.

The winning Sooners travel to Western Carolina Sunday.

No. 7 Baylor (3-0) won 62-54 at UNLV (2-1), rallying from an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter, as Taliah Scott, a transfer from Auburn and one of five reigning USBWA Ann Meyers-Drysdale national players of the wee, scored 23 points.

The Bears go home to host Le Moyne Sunday while the host Rebels visit Montana State Tuesday.

Seton Hall went to 2-0 winning 80-66 at San Francisco (1-2) as Jada Eads led the Pirates with 16 points.

Stanford (4-0) traveled to Washington State (0-4) and beat the Cardinal’s former PAC-12 rival when both were in the dormant league as Hailee Swain scored 10 points for the winners and the winless Cougars got 11 points from Malia Ruud and 10 from Eleonora Villa.

Host Oregon State (3-0) edged Illinois 64-59 as Tiara Bolden scored 25 points for the Beavers, and the Illini (2-1) got 24 from Berry Wallace.

Looking Ahead

The highlight game of the weekend, billed as The Real SC, being played Saturday night, has No. 2 South Carolina traveling West to play No. 8 Southern Cal at 9 p.m. on FOX.

No. 15 Notre Dame Saturday at 4 p.m. plays No. 14 Michigan in Detroit in the Shamrock Classic on NBC.

In the third day of the WBCA Challenge in Las Vegas has Fairfield meeting No. 11 North Carolina at 6 p.m. on ESPN+ followed on the same network at 9 p.m. by South Florida playing No. 3 UCLA.

Two former PAC-12 rivals meet when No. 25 Washington now in the Big Ten travels to Utah of the Big 12 at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.

No. 23 Kentucky is at Marshall at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.

In California’s Raising the B.A.R. Invitational in Berkeley the host Bears meet Charlotte at 6 p.m. on ACCNX while Harvard meets Oakland at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN+, the winners and losers will meet each other Sunday.

The local report with just one game early Friday was filed as a separate below this post.