Skylar Forbes Scores 23 and Gia Cooke Adds 20 as No. 24 West Virginia Rolls Past Georgia Tech 81-63

ATLANTA. West Virginia spent its first two games of the season proving it could win at home. On Sunday, Nov. 8, the Mountaineers packed that same identity into a suitcase. No. 24 West Virginia jumped Georgia Tech early, never trailed, never let the game get tied, and beat the Yellow Jackets 81-63 at McCamish Pavilion to move to 3-0.

Skylar Forbes led the way with 23 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. Gia Cooke added 20 points, Kennedy Harris scored 11 on near perfect shooting, and Divine Tumba gave West Virginia 10 points and five rebounds off the bench. Georgia Tech, which came in 2-0, got 21 points from Talayah Walker and a career-high 14 from Ariadna Termis, but it never solved a defense that forced 19 turnovers.

Here is the box score (opens in a new tab), West Virginia's recap (opens in a new tab) and Georgia Tech's recap (opens in a new tab).

A 27-point opening statement

The first road game of a season usually comes with a feeling-out period. West Virginia skipped it. The Mountaineers scored the first four points, and by the time Jordan Ode got Georgia Tech on the board with a layup in transition, the visitors were already in rhythm. West Virginia opened on a 10-2 run and had a double-digit lead with roughly two minutes left in the first quarter.

The Mountaineers scored 27 points in the opening 10 minutes. That is a full night's work for some teams in a single quarter, and it put Georgia Tech in chase mode before most fans had settled in. Walker kept Georgia Tech within reach with seven points in the quarter, including a 3 at the buzzer that cut the margin to 27-16 heading into the second.

Walker's half, West Virginia's lead

If one player kept this from being a runaway before halftime, it was Walker. West Virginia opened the second quarter with another burst and stretched the lead to 37-19, an 18-point gap that looked like the start of a long night for the home crowd. Walker answered by scoring on three straight trips during a 7-1 Georgia Tech run that pulled the Jackets to 37-25.

Walker added another 3 late in the half, and Georgia Tech went to the locker room down 43-30. Walker scored 19 points before halftime on 50 percent shooting, and the Jackets shot 44 percent as a team in the first half. That was respectable. The problem was ball security, and West Virginia was not in the business of handing extra possessions back.

The second quarter was the only stretch in which the Jackets came close to matching West Virginia's pace. The Mountaineers won it just 16-14. It turned out to be the closest Georgia Tech got to sticking around.

The third quarter put it away

Whatever adjustments Georgia Tech made at halftime, West Virginia had a better one. The Mountaineers held the Jackets to three made baskets in the first five minutes of the third quarter, and only 3s from Termis and Erica Moon kept the deficit from getting truly ugly.

West Virginia outscored Georgia Tech 24-15 in the period. Georgia Tech did put together a 10-6 run late in the quarter, but even that only got the score to 65-45 with about two minutes left. West Virginia closed the frame to lead 67-45 entering the fourth, its largest margin of the day at 22.

The fourth quarter belonged to the Jackets on the scoreboard, 18-14, with six different players scoring. Inés Noguero and Leyre Urdiain each hit a 3, and Georgia Tech shot 47.1 percent in the final period. By then, though, the outcome had been settled for a while. West Virginia led wire to wire and never allowed a tie or a lead change.

Forbes and Cooke set the tone

Forbes did not need to be efficient to dominate this game. Forbes went 8 of 21 from the floor and 3 of 10 from 3, but made all four free throws, grabbed seven rebounds, and kept the offense moving with four assists. It was Forbes' second straight big outing after scoring a career-best 26 points against George Washington three days earlier, according to West Virginia.

Cooke was the steadier shooter, hitting 6 of 14 from the field, 3 of 4 from deep and 5 of 6 at the line in 34 minutes. Harris was the most efficient player on the floor, going 4 of 5 overall and 3 of 4 from 3 for 11 points. Between them, Forbes, Cooke and Harris accounted for all nine of West Virginia's made 3s.

The less glamorous lines were just as telling. Khyala Ngodu went 4 for 4 for nine points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds, three of them offensive. Zahirah Walton had only five points, but added six rebounds, five assists and three steals, and five of those rebounds came on the offensive end. Tumba was a jolt off the bench, going 5 of 7 for 10 points in 17 minutes.

What the numbers say

West Virginia shot 48.4 percent (30 of 62) and 40.9 percent from 3 (9 of 22). It assisted on 20 of its 30 baskets, scored 42 points in the paint according to West Virginia, and won the rebounding battle 37-28, including 14 offensive boards. On defense, the Mountaineers piled up 13 steals and five blocks.

The turnover margin is where the game really lived. Georgia Tech committed 19 turnovers to West Virginia's 14, and that gap was wider than it looks in a game where the Jackets shot reasonably well. Georgia Tech made 25 of 59 shots (42.4 percent), went 7 of 20 from 3 and 6 of 8 at the line. Those are not losing numbers on their own. Giving away 19 possessions against a ranked opponent, and getting only 59 shots up as a result, is.

For Georgia Tech, there was still plenty to like. Walker is averaging 25.7 points a game through three contests, according to the school. Termis was 6 of 8 from the field for a career high. Moon handed out eight assists, one shy of her career best, and tied her career high with four steals, a total she has reached in every game this season. Sophomore Penda Dieng scored the first four points of Dieng's college career. As a team, the Jackets assisted on 21 of their 25 made baskets, a sign the offense is sharing the ball even when the shots are not falling.

Where both teams go from here

For West Virginia, this was the kind of win a ranked team should get in November, but it was also a useful test. The Mountaineers had squeezed past Rhode Island 68-64 in their opener on Nov. 3 before beating George Washington 78-66 on Nov. 5, both at home. Sunday was their first look at a power conference opponent and their first road trip, and they answered with their most complete performance of the young season. Georgia Tech's own recap described the visitors as the reigning Big 12 champions, and they played like a team comfortable carrying that label.

The Mountaineers held their spot at No. 24 in the AP poll released Nov. 9. Their schedule gets busier and tougher from here. West Virginia faces Northwestern on Friday, Nov. 13, at 5:30 p.m. ET at the Greenbrier Tipoff in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., on CBS Sports Network. Akron follows on Nov. 17, and then a trip to the Bahamas to face Florida on Nov. 24 and Notre Dame on Nov. 26.

Georgia Tech falls to 2-1 in the second year under coach Karen Blair. The Jackets are back at McCamish Pavilion on Thursday, Nov. 12, against UMES at 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra, and they host Georgia on Nov. 18.

The early read on West Virginia is simple. When Forbes and Cooke are both scoring and the defense is turning opponents over at this rate, the Mountaineers can travel. That will matter far more in January than it does now, but it is a good sign to have in hand before the calendar flips.

For more early season women's basketball, read about Michigan's upset of UConn and Sarah Strong's 39-point night against Iowa.

Sources: ESPN box score, West Virginia Athletics, Georgia Tech Athletics.

Photo: West Virginia Athletics.