West Virginia beats No. 15 Duke despite losing 6 players to ejections

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — Sydney Shaw scored 16 points and reserve Célia Rivière scored 12 as West Virginia overcame the ejection of six players just before halftime to beat 15th-ranked Duke 57-49 Friday night.

The undefeated Mountaineers (4-0) finished the game with just five players.

West Virginia lost backups Gia Cooke, Carter McCray, Madison Parrish, Jordan Thomas and Kierra Wheeler in a dust-up between the squads. The Mountaineers also lost starter Jordan Harrison.

Duke (2-2) lost Jordan Wood in the skirmish, which took 15 minutes for officials to sort through.

Wood blocked Harrison’s shot attempt as time expired at the half, then flexed on her in a stare down. When the two exchanged shoves, the Mountaineers’ bench emptied before the teams were separated. Departing the bench carries an automatic ejection.

Normally a reserve, Rivière was on the court at the end of the half. Trailing 23-20 at halftime, West Virginia emerged from the break and proceeded to outscore the Blue Devils 20-6 in the first six minutes of the third.

Rivière scored eight and Shaw had seven during that span, which saw the Mountaineers expand their lead to 40-29 with 4:03 remaining in the third.

The Blue Devils drew within 53-49 with 37 seconds left before Shaw atoned for some late turnovers and made 5-of-6 foul shots in the last 43 seconds to clinch it.

NO. 6 OKLAHOMA 89, NORTH ALABAMA 61

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Raegan Beers had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 6 Oklahoma overcame a slow start to beat North Alabama 89-61 Friday morning as hundreds of students on a field trip screamed their approval.

Beers made six of 11 shots, most from close range, and all seven of her free throws for Oklahoma (3-1), which outrebounded the Lions 53 to 40.

Freshman Aaliyah Chavez scored 17 points and Sahara Williams added 13 points and nine rebounds for the Sooners. Oklahoma converted 18 turnovers into 15 points.

Chavez, a consensus five-star recruit, was coming off a 29-point performance with seven 3-pointers in a win over Kansas City on Wednesday night. She wasn’t as sharp against North Alabama, connecting on 6 of 14 shots and 3 of 7 from 3-point range but hit several timely buckets.

Alexsandra Alvarado scored 14 points, Venla Ulander scored 12 and India Howard added 10 for North Alabama (3-1) from the Atlantic Sun Conference. The Lions shot 32% (22 of 68) from the field and 26% (8 of 31) from 3-point range.

NO. 7 BAYLOR 62, UNLV 54

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Taliah Scott scored 23 points and No. 7 Baylor defeated UNLV.

The Bears (3-0) fell behind by eight in the fourth quarter, but a 1-of-18 shooting drought by UNLV (2-1) helped Baylor erase the deficit and outscore the Lady Rebels 19-5 in the fourth to pull away for the win.

Darianna Littlepage-Buggs finished with nine points and 12 rebounds for Baylor.

Scott, who has made an immediate impact for the Bears after transferring from Auburn, has scored 78 points in her first three games at Baylor, scoring at least 20 points in all three games.

Jazmyn Lott scored 18 points to lead the Lady Rebels, while Meadow Roland added 13 points and 11 rebounds.

UNLV turned an eight-point deficit in the third quarter into a seven-point lead heading into the final quarter.

The Lady Rebels came into the game ranked 350th nationally after shooting just 18.5% (5 of 27) from 3-point range through their first two games. But after shooting 1 of 10 from long range in the first half, UNLV’s sharpshooters hit 4 of 8 from beyond the arc in the third quarter, fueling a 17-2 run at one point.