Virginia Opens Coach Mox Era With Big Win Against George Washington

Virginia Cavaliers
Virginia opened the Amaka Agugua-Hamilton era with a win. ~ Photo By Kris Wright/TheSabre.com

The Virginia women’s basketball team may have had some jitters for the first game of the season and first game of Amaka “Mox” Agugua-Hamilton era. That may have contributed to some first-half turnovers, breakdowns, shooting misfires, early fouls, and a halftime deficit. The Hoos figured out how to get rid of the jitters though: slam the foot on the gas.

UVA emerged from intermission on a mission. The Cavaliers turned up the defense and the tempo in the second half Monday to blast George Washington by 30 points in the final two quarters. That easily pushed the first game of the Mox era into the win column, 85-59.

“I’m just proud of our group. Especially in the second half, we came together, played together, really dialed into the game plan, and had each other’s back,” “Put a little bit more energy and effort into what we were doing and we were able to turn the game around and create a big gap. I’m happy about how we played in the second half. First half, we had to weather the storm, there was some adversity, but I mean it’s first game, there’s first game jitters and we just had to get a rhythm and I’m happy we did.”

That rhythm really created a groove in the second half and particularly the fourth quarter. Trailing 36-30 one minute into the third quarter, Virginia pushed the game to a 38-39 tie in 2:40 of game action. Taylor Valladay had a lot to do with that first surge after sitting for much of the first half with two fouls. She completed a traditional three-point play with a bucket and a free throw and then added another free throw that tied the score.

GW did not go away quietly as the lead see-sawed for the remainder of the third quarter. Late in the period, however, McKenna Dale got a long defensive rebound and pushed the ball ahead for a layup that made it 52-50. Camryn Taylor added two free throws in the final 20 seconds for a four-point lead entering the final frame. That’s when the floodgates really opened.

Valladay hit a 3-pointer and a layup before dishing off an assist to Sam Brunelle in transition that resulted in another old school three-point play with the layup and a free throw. A Carole Miller layup and a Kaydan Lawson 3-pointer followed within the first three minutes of the quarter. Suddenly, what had been a back-and-forth contest turned into a 13-point Cavalier lead. It only grew from there as Virginia uncorked a 31-9 fourth to send the Colonials packing on the wrong end of a lopsided final margin.

GW coach Caroline McCombs tried to stem the growing tide with a timeout with 7:08 to go, but the Wahoos could sense the opportunity was there for a knockout blow.

“I even said it in the timeout, I was like they’re clearly getting tired and they’re shook right now,” Brunelle said. “I said this is the time where we need to put the foot on the gas and really extend the lead or whatever. Definitely, they were getting worn down and that also speaks to us and how hard we’ve been working.”

“I was actually really pleased at how fast we were playing in the fourth quarter and just pushing through fatigue,” Coach Mox said. “Getting in game shape is a different thing. You have to play games to get in game shape. … Just being in a game is completely different so I’m just happy to see that our second wind kicked in and we were able to wear them down in the fourth.”

At least some of the second half surge can be attributed to the Hoos sending a steady rotation to the floor and pushing the tempo. Every player that saw action got at least 10 minutes of playing time with Brunelle being the only one to get to the 30-minute mark with exactly 30. As that started to wear on George Washington, the scoreboard margin started to separate.

In the end, Virginia dished out 19 assists on 30 made shots, got to the line 21 times for 16 points, and dominated the rebounding category 53 to 36. The Hoos had 11 turnovers, but only 2 after halftime. The defensive intensity and execution also went through a major transformation in the final 15 minutes with better positioning, physicality, footwork, and effort. The Colonials shot 31.9% overall and 21.4% from 3-point range.

Taylor finished with 22 points on 8-15 shooting to with 13 rebounds, 2 blocked shots, and 1 steal. Lawson added 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists. Valladay had 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. Brunelle and Miller chipped in 10 points each, while Brunelle had 5 rebounds and 3 assists to go with it.

And as good as all that sounds (discuss it here) after last season’s 5-22 record, the Hoos insist it’s just the beginning.

“It’s pretty awesome to play with these girls and to have Coach Mox as our coach,” Brunelle said. “We compete every day, we work really hard every single day together, and honestly we haven’t even reached where we can be at because we have so much potential and so much talent. The ceiling’s really high and I’m excited to see as the season goes on, we’re going to get more comfortable with each other and know each other’s tendencies better as we play more and more. Our defense is going to get better. Everything’s going to get better and I think that’s the exciting thing, knowing that we have so much to improve on and we’re not even near the ceiling yet.”

Final Stats

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  1. Coach Mox is special. I saw her talk before the football game vs Richmond earlier this year for alumni and came away really impressed. She has a great message, she really cares for each player, and wants them to be great people first and then a great basketball player second. I left that gathering asking “why would anyone NOT want their daughter playing for this coach”. The sky is the limit for this team and for years to come with Coach Mox leading them.

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