Hoos Ready for Next Challenge in Greensboro

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Kymora Johnson was unsure how long it had been since the University of Virginia women’s basketball team won a game in the ACC tournament. Six years, the Cavaliers’ point guard was told.

“That’s crazy,” Johnson said.

That stretch of futility is now history. In the first round of this year’s ACC tournament, No. 10 seed UVA defeated No. 15 seed Pitt 64-50 on Wednesday at First Horizon Coliseum. Not since a 77-61 victory over Boston College in 2019 had the Wahoos celebrated a win in this tournament.

“It means a lot,” said Johnson, a first-team All-ACC selection. “It’s part of the process of getting this place back to where it’s been.”

A year ago, Virginia built a 15-point lead late in the third quarter of its first-round game with Wake Forest, only to end up losing 58-55. To finally break through “is huge,” sophomore wing Olivia McGhee said. “I feel like the first-game jitters are out.”

Now comes a rematch with Cal. At 5 p.m. Thursday, the Hoos (17-14) take on the seventh-seeded Golden Bears (24-7), with the winner advancing to Friday’s quarterfinal round.

When the teams met Feb. 20 at John Paul Jones Arena, Cal edged Virginia 76-70.

“We did a lot of things wrong in that game, but we did compete,” UVA head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said Wednesday evening. “So we understand there’s room to grow.”

Four days before hosting Cal at JPJ, Virginia played at Pitt. The Hoos won that game 80-67, with Johnson recording the third triple-double in program history. She wasn’t quite as productive Wednesday, but the 5-foot-7 sophomore still finished with 17 points and seven assists—both game highs—as well as three rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot.

Johnson wasn’t the Hoos’ only standout in their fourth straight victory. Latasha Lattimore, a 6-foot-4 redshirt junior, posted her 11^th double-double of the season—this time with 12 points and 11 rebounds—and finished with career highs in blocks (six) and steals (five).

Freshman wing Breona Hurd came off the bench to score 15 points (on 6-for-9 shooting) and grab seven rebounds, and junior guard Paris Clark added 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.

“Very proud of our group,” said Agugua-Hamilton, who’s in her third year at Virginia. “I thought it was a great team effort. That first game is always about getting settled in the tournament, getting the jitters out, so I was really happy to see us do that.”

The Cavaliers didn’t click immediately. The Panthers (13-19) hit three early 3-pointers and led 12-5 with 5:21 left in the first quarter. Virginia answered with an avalanche of points, going on a 19-0 run that Pitt finally ended at the 7:39 mark of the second quarter.

“Early in the game I think it was a little bit of nerves,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “We were missing a lot of open shots, things like that. Once we settled in we were fine.”

The 6-foot-2 Hurd put the Cavaliers ahead to stay with 37 seconds left in the first quarter, hitting two free throws to make it 14-12. She’s still occasionally out of control on the court—Hurd “has one speed, and it’s fast,” Agugua-Hamilton said, smiling—but she’s improving on that front.

“In high school I dribbled the ball up the court a lot, so I’m pretty much comfortable with it,” Hurd said. “It’s just the speed thing that I have a problem with. I don’t really know how to slow down. It’s just 100 miles an hour.”

Virginia led 26-22 at halftime. Lattimore went into the break with six rebounds, four steals and three blocks, but she was 0 for 4 from the floor and 0 for 2 from the line.

In the locker room, Agugua-Hamilton challenged Lattimore. “She goes, ‘You need to get going. You need to pick it up,’ ” Lattimore said.

No. 35 did as instructed. Lattimore returned to form in the second half and punished the Panthers in the paint.

Pitt has an elite post player too, in 6-foot-4 Khadija Faye, a first-team All-ACC selection who finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds against UVA in the regular season. The Hoos blanketed Faye in the rematch. She finished 15 points and 11 rebounds but missed 16 of 19 shots from the floor.

“So we doubled her both times, but when we were doubling her at their place she was splitting our double-teams,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “We weren’t tight enough. So we were coming in with the wrong angle. So today we were coming with a different angle to close it, so when she tried to split it, she’s going to shoot it right into us, like right into our chest. So I thought we did a really good job of making her take some tough shots.”

The Cavaliers, not especially deep to begin with, experienced a scary moment midway through the third quarter. Pitt guard Marley Washenitz, diving to try to collect a loose ball, landed on McGhee’s right leg. McGhee had to be helped off the court and didn’t return to the game, but Agugua-Hamilton said the 6-foot-2 sophomore should be available Thursday night.

With 6:04 left in the fourth quarter, UVA forward Edessa Noyan fouled out, leaving Agugua-Hamilton with even fewer options. Down the stretch, the Cavaliers’ lineup at times included guard Casey Valenti-Paea and center Taylor Lauterbach, neither of whom played Sunday in the regular-season finale against North Carolina.

The 6-foot-7 Lauterbach scored Virginia’s final points Wednesday on a textbook post move that made it 64-47. Her basket added an exclamation to a satisfying win for the Hoos.

The competition figures to be stiffer Thursday night. The key for the Cavaliers is “just executing,” Johnson said. “Sticking to our game and not trying to go away from that and just doing what we know best.’

Agugua-Hamilton wants to see her team compete for 40 minutes. The Golden Bears are talented on the perimeter as well as the interior, she said. “We’ve got to understand it’s going to take multiple effort plays to guard them, and we’ve just got to execute our offense.”

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