MORGANTOWN — There were more than 1,500 women’s basketball players in the transfer portal in 2025, so West Virginia’s Gia Cooke is not exactly facing a unique situation.
As it stands, Cooke and the Mountaineers (10-2) will open up Big 12 play at 2 p.m. Sunday, when Houston visits the Hope Coliseum.
It will be a travel down memory lane for Cooke, who was the second-leading scorer for the Cougars (6-5) last season.
“I haven’t really discussed it with her, but I’m sure it will be great for her to see old teammates,” WVU forward Carter McCray said.
It won’t exactly be the same Houston team Cooke remembers. Her former head coach, Ronald Hughey, resigned at the end of last season after 11 seasons with the school. He is now an assistant coach at Virginia.
First-year head coach Matthew Mitchell took over after being retired for five years. He was the head coach at Kentucky for 13 years, where he guided the Wildcats to five Sweet 16s and three Elite Eights. Only three players remained at Houston from last season for Mitchell’s first season.
“It’s a new coaching staff, so I don’t know if there is going to be a ton of emotion there,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. “Maybe there will be a little bit, because she’s had that jersey on a year ago. We’ll maybe talk about it on the side. You don’t want someone to get overly emotional about it, but there could be an extra pep in her step, potentially.”
At WVU, Cooke has developed into one of the Mountaineers most consistent players this season. The junior has scored in double figures in the past 11 games, with five of those going for at least 19 points. She is third in the Big 12 this season with 90 free-throw attempts.
Aside from Cooke’s reunion, the Mountaineers are simply looking to get Big 12 play off to a positive start. WVU is 5-0 all-time against Houston, including last season’s 79-51 victory.
WVU is 1-1 in Big 12 openers under Kellogg, who said he is still working on getting the most out of his players.
“I think we’ve been good at defense at times, we’ve had good offensive games,” Kellogg said. “Obviously, some games didn’t go as well as we would have liked. I think we’re still learning. I’m seeing some growth, that’s a good thing.
“Still trying to figure out some of the rotational pieces. I’m pleased with where we are, but there is some room for growth, to be sure.”
WVU’s scoring defense, which ranks fifth in the Big 12 allowing 55.7 points per game, won’t likely see much of a challenge from the Cougars. Houston is ranked last in the Big 12 in scoring (62.6 ppg) and is the only team in the league shooting less than 40% from the field as a team. Houston has also turned the ball over the third-most times among Big 12 teams.
WVU is also expecting to see sophomore Jordan Thomas get back into action. She’s missed the last three games with a knee injury. It’s not known if Thomas will get back into the starting lineup right away, but the 6-foot-3 center will be available.
“We need to get J.T. back and she should be back for (today),” Kellogg said. “She’s been a coach’s decision lately. She could have played, but she wasn’t at full strength. She got a little injection, I believe, so now, hopefully it feels a little bit better and we can move forward with the full roster.”
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