In the final game of the regular season, the Virginia women’s basketball team put up impressive numbers on and off the court. UVA topped No. 5 Virginia Tech 80-75 for the program’s first win against a top 5 team since 2017. The John Paul Jones Arena had a record-breaking attendance of 11,975 fans, the largest in the history of the state of Virginia for a women’s basketball game. The previous high was 11,966, which was set in 1994 during the Final Four Semifinals and Finals at the Richmond Coliseum.
Cavalier freshman Kymora Johnson spoke on the atmosphere for a game that featured 10 ties and 11 lead changes with neither team leading by more than 6 points.
“It’s just amazing for the sport of women’s basketball,” Johnson said. “That’s what I came here to do especially, was to get this place back on the map and I am so glad that me and my teammates can fill the seats, and the other team as well. It was really inspiring to play in a game like that.”
The Hoos came into the night with a chip on their shoulder, as they had lost the last 5 times these two teams met, including a 76-63 loss in Blacksburg last month. Although Virginia leads the series 52-19, recently they had a string of difficult performances against Virginia Tech.
However, this game was much different. Both teams came out aggressive, and it was a back-and-forth game from the start. That was clear from the first buckets for both teams as VT’s Georgia Amoore and Johnson traded 3-pointers in the first minute. Both teams displayed a lot of fight and kept themselves in the game throughout.
That’s something that caught the attention of Virginia coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton.
“Very, very proud of our players and our fight today. We fought for 40 minutes,” Coach Mox said. “There was so many things that we had to play through, different lineups in there, all kinds of stuff, and we just wanted it. We knew we were trying to play our way into postseason and have momentum going into the conference tournament. I’m just really proud of our fight.”
In the third quarter, Virginia Tech lost center Elizabeth Kitley to injury. Kitley is a two-time ACC Player of the Year, and an integral part to the Hokies’ scheme. She had 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 blocks on the night without playing the final 15 minutes. Because of this, Amoore assumed a bigger role, and she stepped up with 39 points for the Hokies.
Going into the fourth quarter, the Hoos led by just 2 points and there continued to be a lot of alternating momentum. With less than 2 minutes remaining, the game stood tied at 72 so the duel would be decided on plays down the stretch. UVA answered the challenge.
Virginia had a crucial 6-0 run to tilt it in its favor. First, senior London Clarkson drove baseline for a reverse layup that broke the tie. Seconds later, Johnson stole the ball from Carleigh Wenzel on an attempted Tech handoff and quickly scored a layup in transition to make it a two-possession game with 1:05 to go. After a defensive stop, Paris Clark went to the line and made both free throws to make it 78-72 with 34 seconds remaining.
The Hoos then survived one final swing from the Hokies. Amoore scored a traditional 3-point play for a 78-75 margin. The Wahoos went 0-4 at the free throw line to keep the window open, but Amoore missed a long 3-pointer with 18 seconds to go and Johnson grabbed the rebound. Virginia graduate student Sam Brunelle then cashed in the game with a couple of free throws with just over 10 seconds to go.
“We had a lot of trust in her and her ability to knock down free throws too” Coach Mox said.
Johnson had another outstanding night and led the way for the Hoos with 21 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals. Additionally, Camryn Taylor and Clark also came up big for Virginia with 17 and 16 points respectively. Taylor also had 7 rebounds and 2 steals, while Clark had 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.
Those performances helped the Cavaliers put together an incredibly consistent game, something they have been striving to do since the start of the season. The hosts had 17, 17, 22, and 24 points across the four quarters.
“Earlier this season, when we hit adversity we would just sort of go our separate ways and we didn’t really come together and we have been seeing that [better] a lot lately,” Coach Mox said. “We won four of our last five, then we went to Duke and had a bad game. Credit to Duke, they played great but we just wanted to flush that game out of our system and get back to where we were. So offensively, the ball has been moving better, we understand where people need shots, where people are going to take shots, so we can get rebounding coverage. We understand different looks and defensively, we really try to buy into the game plan and just support each other and have each other’s back, especially on rotation.”
“All around we are just understanding my system better, understanding me, understanding each other, and also showing a lot of poise down the stretch,” she continued. “That was one thing we have grown the most in, especially in the fourth quarter.”
The Hoos will try to carry that into postseason play when they start their ACC Tournament campaign against Wake Forest on Wednesday, March 6 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Great game and congrats to the graduating class!