Gia Cooke Scores Career-High 28 as No. 24 West Virginia Holds Off Rhode Island 68-64

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. Gia Cooke opened the season the way West Virginia needed, and then closed it the same way. The senior guard scored a career-high 28 points, including 10 of the Mountaineers' 16 in the fourth quarter, and No. 24 West Virginia survived a late push from Rhode Island to win 68-64 on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at Hope Coliseum.

It was not supposed to get that close. West Virginia led by 17 midway through the fourth quarter before going cold, and Rhode Island's Delanie Hill, who made seven 3-pointers on the way to 26 points, dragged the Rams back into it. The Mountaineers (1-0) held on at the free throw line and with one final defensive stand. Rhode Island fell to 0-1 in the debut of head coach Colleen Mullen.

Here is the official box score (opens in a new tab), West Virginia's recap (opens in a new tab) and the AP recap on ESPN (opens in a new tab).

Rhode Island lands the first punch

The Rams did not look like a team picked ninth in the Atlantic 10. They came out firing and won the first quarter 24-22, with Hill already finding space beyond the arc. Rhode Island shot 10 of 24 from deep for the night, and Hill accounted for seven of those makes on 10 attempts. That is the kind of shooting that can carry a mid-major into a ranked opponent's building and make it nervous.

Cooke kept West Virginia within reach early. She scored 13 points in the first quarter, according to West Virginia, and had 16 by halftime, per the AP. For a team that has turned over most of its roster, having one proven scorer who could take the first shot of the season and make it was a comfort.

Six points in a quarter

The second quarter flipped the game. West Virginia held Rhode Island to six points in the period while scoring 17, turning a two-point deficit into a 39-30 halftime lead. Defense won that quarter, and it set the tone for the night under coach Mark Kellogg. Rhode Island finished with 20 turnovers, and West Virginia turned them into 18 points.

The Mountaineers kept squeezing after the break. Zahirah Walton scored on a layup less than 15 seconds into the third quarter to push the lead to 11, according to West Virginia, and the margin climbed as high as 14 in the period. Rhode Island scored only 10 points in the third, and West Virginia carried a 52-40 lead into the fourth. Across the middle two quarters, the Rams managed 16 points total.

The fourth quarter gets uncomfortable

Cooke's basket with 6:28 to play gave West Virginia its biggest lead at 60-43, according to the AP. The game looked finished. Then the Mountaineers went cold. They made one of their next nine shots from the field, the AP reported, and Rhode Island ripped off a 10-0 run to get back within single digits.

The Rams cut it to seven with 2:56 left, per West Virginia, and kept coming. Rhode Island scored 24 points in the fourth quarter, matching its first-quarter total, and Hill was the problem West Virginia could not solve. Alex Newson buried a 3 with about six seconds left to make it a four-point game. West Virginia then turned the ball over on the inbounds pass, but Rhode Island's last 3-point attempt at the buzzer missed, and the Mountaineers escaped.

West Virginia's free throw shooting kept the door open longer than it needed to be. The Mountaineers went 17 of 25 at the line for the game, 68 percent. Cooke was 9 of 12, and Divine Tumba went 4 of 4, but there were enough misses elsewhere to keep Rhode Island alive.

Cooke carries the load

The final line for Cooke: 28 points on 8-of-17 shooting, 3 of 6 from 3-point range, 9 of 12 at the line, three assists and two steals in 34 minutes. She started 34 games last season and led West Virginia at 15.0 points per game, according to the AP. With only two returning players and 10 newcomers on this roster, she is not just the top option. She is the familiar one, and opening night showed how much the Mountaineers will lean on that.

Walton gave West Virginia a second scorer with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting and two steals, though Walton also had six of the team's 17 turnovers. Skylar Forbes had a rough shooting night at 3 of 12 but still contributed eight points and seven rebounds. Khyala Ngodu worked inside for eight rebounds, five of them offensive, according to West Virginia, plus four points and three assists. Off the bench, Tumba had six points and six rebounds in 11 minutes, and Nylah Wilson scored seven with two steals.

West Virginia shot just 39 percent from the field (23 of 59) and 5 of 15 from 3. Rhode Island shot better in both categories, 43.6 percent overall and 41.7 percent from deep. So how did the Mountaineers win? The answer is volume. West Virginia outrebounded the Rams 39-35, grabbed 17 offensive boards to Rhode Island's 13, and won the points in the paint 34-22. Add the 20 Rhode Island turnovers and West Virginia simply got more chances, and more of them near the rim.

For Rhode Island, the effort deserves credit. Hill's 26 came on 8-of-14 shooting, and Newson added 12 points and three steals. Amaya Stewart had eight points and eight rebounds on 4-of-5 shooting. Sophia Vital played 39 minutes and dished out nine assists, though the 4-of-14 shooting night kept Vital's scoring to eight. The Rams' problem was the second and third quarters, and the turnovers that handed West Virginia 18 points.

For Mullen, there was plenty to build on from a first game in charge. Rhode Island went into a ranked opponent's gym, won two of the four quarters, outscored West Virginia 24-16 in the final period and had a look at the end to make it even closer. The Rams also shared the ball well, with 18 assists on 24 made baskets. The fix is obvious and fixable: cut down on the giveaways, and find more than one consistent scorer to go with Hill. Queen Ikhiuwu grabbed seven rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench, and Amori Jarrett played 23 minutes but made just 1 of 7 shots.

On the West Virginia side, Kellogg spread the minutes across nine players. Marya Hudgins did not score but pulled down six rebounds in 19 minutes, Kennedy Harris went 1 of 1 from the field in 20 minutes as a starter, and Madison Parrish handed out two assists in eight minutes. With this many new faces, the opener was as much about finding combinations as it was about the result.

What it means

The win extended a few West Virginia streaks. It was the Mountaineers' 13th straight win on opening night, according to the school, and their seventh straight victory at Hope Coliseum dating to last season. West Virginia is now 32-4 in non-conference games over the last four seasons and 44-7 at home under Kellogg.

It also served as a warning. This is a West Virginia team that won last season's Big 12 Tournament but was picked fourth in the league's preseason poll after losing most of its roster, per the AP. A 17-point lead turning into a one-possession scare tells you there are still things to sort out, especially on offense once the turnovers stop coming.

The Mountaineers got a chance to sharpen those things quickly. West Virginia hosted George Washington two nights later and beat the Revolutionaries 78-66 behind six 3s from Forbes, then went on the road and rolled past Georgia Tech 81-63. Rhode Island's next game was against Columbia on Friday, Nov. 6.

The closing take

Opening night in Morgantown did not produce a masterpiece, and it did not need to. West Virginia won the quarters that mattered, leaned on its best player when the lead started to slip, and walked off with a win over a Rhode Island team that looked far better than its preseason projection. Cooke's 28 will be the headline. The six-point second quarter is the reason the Mountaineers had enough cushion to survive the fourth.

Sources: ESPN, AP, West Virginia Athletics (wvusports.com).

Photo: West Virginia Athletics (file photo from Nov. 5, 2026, vs. George Washington).