Cavaliers Add Virginia Native Payton Dunbar to 2024 Signing Class

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia women’s basketball head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton announced today (July 18) the signing of Payton Dunbar (Narrows, Va.), who will join the Cavaliers for the upcoming 2024-25 season.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Payton into our family,” said Agugua-Hamilton. “Another homegrown Virginia kid, Payton is an extremely hard worker on and off the court. She is graduating early with a 4.0 GPA and will enroll at UVA in August. She is an amazing person who will enhance our culture and already lives by program’s motto, ‘Grind Now, Shine Later.’ She’s a three-level scorer who will flourish in our uptempo style of play. Wahoo Nation, we have another in-state kid you are going to love.”

A 5-11 guard, Dunbar was homeschooled and recently made the decision to reclassify to the class of 2024. Despite her homeschool status, Dunbar competed for Jefferson Christian Academy (Ripplemead, Va.), where she averaged 27 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 1 block per game. During her tenure at Jefferson Christian, Dunbar scored 1,348 career points and led the Cardinals to a National Association of Christian Athletes championship in 2023. She nabbed NACA all-tournament honors in both 2023 and 2024. Dunbar was also crowned Player of the Year by Max Preps (2023) and the Independent Division in 2024.

On the club circuit, Dunbar competed for the NRV Storm.

Dunbar is set to officially enroll at UVA and begin training with the Cavaliers this upcoming Fall semester.