MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Gia Cooke scored a career-high 28 points, and No. 24 West Virginia beat Rhode Island 68-64 on Tuesday night for its 13th straight season-opening victory.

West Virginia, which won the Big 12 Tournament last season, features two returners and 10 newcomers on a team picked to finish fourth in the conference preseason poll.

Cooke, who started 34 games and averaged a team-best 15.0 points per game last season, kept West Virginia in it early by scoring 13 points in the opening 10 minutes. She finished the half with 16 points to help West Virginia build a 39-30 lead after holding the Rams to just six points in the second quarter.

Cooke gave the Mountaineers their largest lead of the game, 60-43, with 6:28 remaining in the fourth. But West Virginia made just one of its next nine field goals as URI went on a 10-0 run to get within single digits.

After West Virginia struggled to put the game away at the free-throw line, Alex Newson sank a 3-pointer with 6.5 seconds left to get URI within four points. The Mountaineers turned it over on their inbounds pass, but Rhode Island was off on a 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

Delanie Hill scored 26 points and made seven 3-pointers for Rhode Island, which was picked ninth in the Atlantic 10 Conference preseason poll. Newson finished with 12 points.

Colleen Mullen made her debut as Rhode Island’s coach.

Up next

Rhode Island: Returns home to play Columbia on Friday.

West Virginia: Hosts George Washington on Thursday.

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