There’s a staple when it comes to West Virginia women’s basketball. If you’re going to play for head coach Mark Kellogg, you’re going to go all out on defense.
With 10 new players in tow, it’s taking some time for that play to gel on the court.
It was apparent in the Mountaineers’ season-opening win over Rhode Island, where they escaped with a four-point victory. It was apparent once again, especially in the first half, of Sunday’s game at Georgia Tech.
Despite leading by 13 at the half, the Mountaineers left Talayah Walker open too often, as she scored 19 of Georgia Tech’s 30 points in the first half.
For a program that stresses defensive pressure and limiting open shots in the half-court, it was a disappointing 20 minutes for Kellogg’s team.
“We lost her (Walker) way too much in the first half for somebody that’s the head of the scouting report, and that’s crazy,” Kellogg told The IX Sports after the game. “We mix defenses in between some man-to-man and zones, and obviously press. So that can happen to us from time to time. We just left her wide open on the left wing, and she hit a three. Like that’s not good at all. And so we were just a little more cognizant in the second half of where she was at all times.”
Enter Gia Cooke, one of two returning players for the Mountaineers this season and their own head of the snake.
While yes, the Mountaineers do mix up their defensive schemes, Cooke made it a point not to have Walker far out of her sights as the team ran their press, man-to-man coverage, mixed up zones, and used some box-and-one schemes to slow Walker down.
She was held to just two points in the second half of the game, thanks to buy-in from the whole team, sure, but primarily due to Cooke slowing her down.
“To Gia’s credit, obviously she’s smart enough to understand that,” Kellogg said. “So when she drew the assignment, did a good job.”
It’s what leaders do. They take on the assignment not only for themselves, but for their team, as well.
It’s a changing of the guard for the Mountaineers, last year’s Big 12 champions, as gone are the former leaders of the team who made it to the WNBA during the last two seasons in J.J. Quinerly and Jordan Harrison.
Now, when you think of Mountaineer basketball, you think of Cooke, who decided to return to the program for her final season of collegiate ball.
“I would say it was definitely like the whole West Virginia Morgantown type of family vibe they gave me. I feel like I’ve never gotten that from like all of my other previous schools, so that was just like a big part of it,” Cooke told The IX Sports about choosing to return to Morgantown.
“I’m closer to home, and with the basketball part, like we won the league last year. The standard that I always saw myself reaching for was what Coach Kellogg saw for me. They made basketball fun for me. The fans made basketball fun. I just wanted to experience that all over again.”
If you’re looking to draw a parallel, you can look at another Big 12 player in Taliah Scott. Scott started at Arkansas before transferring to Auburn. Eventually, she landed in Baylor, where she returned for her senior season.
Unlike Scott, though, Cooke picked a school that was close to home at the University of Maryland before transferring to the University of Houston.
John Denver famously sings the words “Take me home, country roads” in the track with the same name. He’s referring to West Virginia.
Finding the game shouldn’t be the hardest part
SheScores is the women’s sports scoreboard, making it easy to follow women’s sports with scores, schedules and where to watch — all in one place.
While her home is in the DMV, West Virginia has become home to Cooke, too.
“I found my footing a little better here, just with my role and the type of player I am,” Cooke said. “So I just thought everything fit for me, and I just wanted to come back.”
It was a welcome return for Kellogg and the Mountaineers, as Cooke and Madison Parrish are the only returning players from a season ago.
So when Cooke talks about that role and type of player she is, that role expanded this year into her being not just the head of the snake, if you will, but the leader of the team, too.
“I talked with Coach Kellogg a lot, but it was like me making that decision to even come back. It was just like an understanding that we want you to do what you did last year, but just at a different level, at a level where you can bring other people along,” Cooke explained. “Let’s win again and do everything that we talked about. So me staying and having that relationship with Coach, it just made sense. I want to be a leader. I want to do all those things that you know I know I can. I just took the keys for real, and I’m very appreciative of it.”
Cooke is confident. She hails from the DMV – D.C., Maryland, Virginia – which is a place that has been on the map of late. It was represented well in the WNBA Finals with players like Kaila Charles and Angel Reese taking center stage.
“We like to say there’s something in the water,” Cooke joked.
Whatever it is, Cooke has it. And it’s seen by those who are around her now, sure, but also those who were with her at earlier parts of her journey.
“I think the biggest thing with Gia is that she’s always been one of the ultimate competitors,” said Georgia Tech head coach Karen Blair, who was an assistant coach at Maryland when Cooke was a freshman. “But I think the thing that I’ve been most impressed with is her emotional regulation. It’s hard when you think about it. She gets bumped, hit, bang, boom, and you know, and she handles it like that is the thing, but she’s always been a competitor. I’ve seen her since high school, so it’s always fun to kind of get these players.
“You see them as a freshman and where she’s at now, and she’s in a situation where she’s trying to lead a lot of people in that program; she’s the one that’s been there, the veteran that’s been there, and having them understand that system. But it’s a proud moment.”
Last season, it was Harrison who was the leader of the Mountaineers. After clinching the Big 12 title, Harrison gave an emotional post-game interview on the court describing her feelings after winning the conference.
Enter stage left, Cooke, who crashed the interview to celebrate with her teammate, her leader, her friend.
“Gia is very assertive and wants to give her best each game,” Harrison told The IX Sports. “Her competitive energy can feed off her teammates, which can lead the team’s energy in the right direction. Gia is also very bubbly, making it easy for her to connect with people off the court. Although the role is new for her, she will fit into it in her own unique way.”
After the game in Atlanta on Sunday, Kellogg and the Mountaineers were ready to hop on a flight to get back to campus. When he heard that The IX Sports wanted to talk about Cooke, he said, “Absolutely, we have time.”
A convo took place in the visitors’ tunnel, where Kellogg couldn’t wait to dig into Cooke and what she means to the team.
“She’s such a talented player. She has an innate ability to find baskets,” Kellogg said. “She’s worked hard on the three-point shot, which is off to a pretty good start this year. We’re putting the ball in her hands, which she hasn’t had as much of that opportunity as we’ve kind of done this year. That comes with leadership, and that’s the challenge for her. How do you get yours? How do you set up teammates? When is it time to attack? We’re not all the way there yet. She would probably say the same thing.”
It’s a good point, coach. We’ve heard from those around her, but being a leader is something that a player takes pride in. It’s a symbol of personal growth that impacts the entire team. So, who better to hear from than Cooke herself?
“It’s about raising myself up to a different level and teaching more now because we have a whole new team. I would say being myself still because I think that I naturally can lead without even the role or somebody saying it,” Cooke said. “You know who’s on your team, know who wants to be talked to in different ways. It was learning that and then just also leading by action and what I do off the court, what I do on the court, how I talk to you, how I talk to them.”
While Morgantown is home for Cooke as a player, she was the first to admit that “there’s not much to do” in the town, but it didn’t stop her from finding ways to get her team to gel since there are so many new players. Cooke said the team would get food, do activities like painting classes, and even white-water rafting.
At the end of the day, though, it comes down to basketball and getting everyone on the court together.
“I think that just built us a lot because, you know, we are together all the time. So I think that was just a big part of it,” Cooke said about getting into the gym. “I know I can lead, and I think that I did a lot of that last year. I can be a vocal player on the team.”
It shows on the film, too, when watching Cooke’s game. She’s coaching up her teammates on both ends of the floor. Shouting out the plays, getting people into the right spots.
She’s a fifth-year senior, yes, but still, the approach she has to the game is more advanced than you’d expect from a college player.
A lot of that communication is needed because of the intense play that the Mountaineers play. They press, and they press a lot on defense. It’s something that Kellogg and his players not only take pride in, but they know that they have to do in order to see the court.
Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women’s Sports Daily
We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women’s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women’s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!
“It’s our identity. I put it in their head that West Virginia guards, we defend and that’s what brings our offense along,” Cooke explained. “It’s connecting it to them that you’re not gonna get that wide-open shot if we don’t guard. This is what we do, this is how we win games, and this is what we rely on a lot. They’re getting it down, but it’s not like an easy system. Just to jump right in and get to it because we press all games. It’s a big ask, but I don’t think he didn’t recruit anybody that wasn’t ready to do it. We’re Stress Virginia.”
Stress Virginia.
It’s nice, catchy. But it’s legit. The movement of the Mountaineers’ defense with their defense causes havoc for teams — even those who are able to prepare.
Kellogg echoed what Cooke had to say: it’s not an option, but a necessity.
“Kids know when they come that you know we’re going to get you better defensively. We’re going to ask a lot of you,” he said. “We’re going to demand the defensive end, and we’re not even close to where we need to be defensively yet. That’s where I think this group, as of right now, has a long you know way to go, and the ceiling is so much higher.
“They just don’t really have a choice, you know, because we just kind of demand that they want to be great. If you want to be a really good defender, you don’t even have to come in necessarily being a great one. You just have to want to be, and if you do, we’ll help you get there.”
It does take a special kind of player to get there. And those players, whether it’s in the water or not, can come from the DMV due to the mentality that Cooke mentioned earlier.
“We have a different type of toughness to us. We wear it on our chest, we wear it on our shoulder everywhere,” Cooke explained. “We just play it like it’s our last game. I don’t know. It’s just something about us DMV people. We just love to get down to the gritty with everybody, and we just feel not respected in a sense. We gotta go out and be like, ‘I gotta take her head.’”
That’s the confidence that Cooke has. It’s been instilled in her from a young age, and it’s the confidence that has gotten her to this point.
It’s not done, though. As the leader of the Mountaineers, she wants to repeat as the Big 12 champs, but she also said that she wants to get past the Sweet 16 this year to cut the net down again.
That’s the team goal, and it’s what Cooke leads with.
Make no mistake, though, that Cooke has her own goals, too, including having her name called in April during the WNBA Draft.
“I can’t wait for that,” Cooke said, with a smile. “Any way that I can improve my game, I’m trying to do that to get my name called.”
She knows that she has parts of her game that she has to work on, though. She mentioned getting to her spots better and while she’s a three-level scorer, it is discerning what the right read is from going from one level to the next.
“The only person that can stop Gia is herself,” Harrison said. “She has the utmost confidence in herself, which makes her so dangerous.”
For Kellogg, he’s had two players – guards specifically – make the WNBA in his tenure as the head coach at West Virginia.
He knows what the coaches look for. When it comes to Cooke, he told her what it’s going to take.
“If she’s going to be a lead guard at the next level, which she would like to be, then it’s the leading and owning a huddle and the voice by saying the right things,” Kellogg said. “That’s a taught thing. How do you talk to your teammates? How do you lead them? If you don’t get them to follow, then you’re not leading.
“Because she’s offensively a gifted basketball player, and that’s not what we’re after. She’s got those qualities, and when we talk to WNBA people, and they’ve called in the past about our guards, it’s not about the ability. They can get that pretty quick. They want all the intangible stuff. Gia is like that. She has that dawg in her.”
If you ask Kellogg, that’s the type of player that he recruits. If you ask Cooke, that’s just who she is, part of her environment growing up.
The DMV breeds dawgs.
“I just try to stay grounded. I’m trying to put my head down and work,” Cooke said. “I just always come into a situation like I’m the underdog. I’m the underdog coming from Maryland, coming from Houston, it’s just like, you know, my journey’s been a little bit up and down. So I’m just trying to stay the course and, you know, run at my pace. So if I’m gonna be the underdog, I’m gonna be the underdog, and I’m perfectly fine with that.”
The DMV breeds not only dawgs, but underdogs, as well.
If all goes according to plan, the underdog will have her day in April – just like all leaders should.
