Duke’s Comeback Falls Short in 57-49 Loss to West Virginia

Friday, November 14

White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.

7 p.m.

Duke University

2-2,0-0ACC

West Virginia

4-0,0-0Big 12

Duke

West Virginia

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke’s Comeback Falls Short in 57-49 Loss to West Virginia

11/14/2025 10:51:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score Postgame Notes

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – Trailing by 15 with 4:33 left in the fourth quarter, Duke battled back to pull within four but couldn't complete the comeback in a tough 57-49 loss to West Virginia in the 2025 Greenbrier Tip-Off at the Greenbrier Resort Friday night.

The Blue Devils fall to a 2-2 overall record, while West Virginia improves to a 4-0 ledger.

Senior Taina Mair paced the Blue Devils with 10 points, adding four rebounds, four assists and a steal. In her second collegiate game, redshirt freshman Arianna Roberson contributed nine points, a career-high six rebounds and two blocks. Senior Ashlon Jackson filled up the stat sheet, finishing with nine points to surpass 900 career points, along with four rebounds, six assists, a block and a steal.

HOW IT HAPPENED

It was a fast-paced opening five minutes with teams trading baskets in end-to-end action. Junior Delaney Thomas opened the scoring for the Blue Devils and Mair drove to the basket for a paif of layups to help Duke to an 11-7 lead at the media timeout. The Blue Devils forced three early turnovers and converted them into four points in those first five minutes.
Both teams struggled to score in the second half of the frame, combining for just eight points. Roberson had all four of Duke's points – a midrange jumper from the elbow and then a tip-in from an offensive board.
Defensively, Duke forced West Virginia into five first-quarter turnovers for a 15-11 advantage after 10 minutes.
The Blue Devils' defense continued to shine in the second quarter, making every possession a battle for the Mountaineers. Duke held West Virginia without a field goal for a span of 7:07, but struggled on the offensive end, getting just four points in those first five minutes of the stanza for a narrow four-point edge, 19-15.
West Virginia's Gia Cooke scored five consecutive points to pull the Mountaineers within one, 21-20. Junior Jadyn Donovan answered with a jumper to give Duke a 23-20 lead heading into the waning seconds of the first half.
The final possession of the second quarter resulted in a major shift in the contest with a total of seven players being ejected, including Duke junior Jordan Wood. The Mountaineers would go on to play the remainder of the game with just five players.
The third quarter was all West Virginia, as the Mountaineers went on a 22-6 run to open up a 13-point lead, 42-29.
With the crowd behind them, the Mountaineers forced Duke into nine turnovers in the quarter, shot 47 percent from the floor and earned nine points from the free-throw line to take a 44-32 lead into the fourth.
Duke pulled within 10 on a sophomore Toby Fournier layup to start the fourth quarter, but the Mountaineers refused to go away and maintained their double-digit lead, 52-39, with 3:38 left to play.
Jackson caught the hot hand coming out of the media timeout, hitting two threes to help Duke cut the lead to seven, 52-45.
Duke notched two more buckets off of a layup from Thomas and a jumper from Mair, but West Virginia rounded out its 57-49 win by securing five more points from the charity stripe.

UP NEXT

Duke heads to Lynchburg, Virginia, for a Nov. 16 matchup at Liberty. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m., at Liberty Arena on ESPN+.

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