Clark Eager to Put It All Together in Fourth Year

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — When she’s healthy, Paris Clark is a blur on the court, showing off the athleticism that can make it difficult for opponents to get past her and, at the other end, to keep her away from the hoop.

Even at less than 100 percent, Clark finds way to contribute, as she showed last season. Injuries sidelined for her six games, and the 5-foot-8 guard felt pain in her ankle when she was able to play, but she never made excuses for her periods of inconsistency.

“At the end of the day, she’s a fighter,” UVA guard Kymora Johnson said of her close friend. “Nothing can stop her: injuries, fatigue, whatever it is.”

Clark finished as Virginia’s third-leading scorer (10.3 point per game) in 2024-25. She led the team in steals per game (1.96), and only Johnson, an All-ACC selection, had more assists.

“Paris was hurt the whole season and played hurt,” head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said, “but she just really wanted to be there. She knew we needed her, and she just really laid it on the line for us”

It was a challenging season for her, Clark acknowledged recently at John Paul Jones Arena, “but I was just trying to be there for my team, just push through it and play as hard as I could and do what I could.”

Clark and Johnson joined Agugua-Hamilton as UVA’s representatives at ACC Tipoff, the conference’s preseason media gathering, early this month in Charlotte, N.C.

Asked about the injury that slowed her last season, Clark said, “I think it just gave me a different perspective on the game, just being able to face adversity and be able to put one foot in front of the other. I think going into this year it will just help me take it one day at a time and know how to respond to adversity.”

A McDonald’s All-American coming out of Long Island Lutheran in New York, Clark transferred to UVA in the spring of 2023 after spending her freshman year at Arizona. An ankle injury delayed her Cavalier debut, but Clark ended up starting 26 games in 2023-24. She was second on the team in steals and third in points, assists and rebounds per game.

“I appreciate everything that kid’s done since she’s been here,” Agugua-Hamilton said.

Clark, who grew up in the Bronx, N.Y., has had three operations since arriving at UVA. That’s meant she’s often been rehabbing when the rest of the team was practicing or training.

“It’s definitely difficult, because building chemistry with your team happens in practice,” Clark said, “and even feeling good yourself comes with doing reps and consistency. So it’s definitely not an ideal situation.”

The good news for Clark, and for the Cavaliers, is that she’s practiced regularly and looked sharp this fall.

“She’s playing the best basketball I’ve seen her play,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “She’s healthy, she’s confident, she’s leading, she’s affecting the game on both sides of the ball. It’s the Paris that we’ve been trying to get to. We’ve seen flashes of it during certain games and maybe even for streaks. There might be four or five games at a time and then maybe she gets a small injury here and there.”

The Hoos won five of their final seven games in 2024-25, in part because Clark’s production rose late in the season. She scored at least 11 points in each of her final eight games, and she’s eager to extend that streak.

Clark’s senior season starts Tuesday night, when UVA hosts Morgan State in a non-conference game at JPJ. First, however, comes the Wahoos’ final dress rehearsal for their fourth season under Agugua-Hamilton. At 7 p.m. Thursday, in an exhibition that’s free for fans, Virginia takes on Frostburg State at JPJ.

“I’m feeling good,” Clark said. “I’m excited to just be healthy and play freely and actually be able to play like myself.”

Virginia, which finished 17-15 in 2024-25, was picked to finish seventh in the ACC this season. “I was pretty happy with that,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “I know what we’re capable of.”

The Hoos are looking to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017-18, Joanne Boyle’s final season as head coach.

“We want to be dancing this year, but that’s not the focus,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “The focus is winning the day and what goes into winning that day, so that we can put days together, stack days, win games, stack winning games, and then pursue championships and make a run in the NCAA tournament.”

Clark is one of five returning players at UVA, along with Johnson, Olivia McGhee, Breona Hurd and Jillian Brown, who missed last season while recovering from a knee injury. The roster includes eight newcomers: freshman Gabby White and transfers Adeang Ring (Central Florida), Tabitha Amanze (Princeton), Caitlin Weimar (NC State), Danelle Arigbabu (West Virginia), Romi Levy (South Florida), Sa’Myah Smith (LSU) and Raiane Dias Dos Santos (Florida State).

“This is a completely different team than last year, so I’m excited about it,” Agugua-Hamilton said.

Even with so many newcomers, building team chemistry has “been super easy,” Clark said. “We all want to win. We all are super bought into our roles on the team. I think when everybody has the same goal, it kind of just comes naturally, and we just have the same interests.”

For the second straight year, Clark and Johnson are the Cavaliers’ captains. “That was awesome to see, that they resonated with last year’s team and this year’s team as leaders,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “I think they’re really taking pride in that role. I think they’re very comfortable and they’re, I guess, comfortable in their game and also comfortable in our system and really feel comfortable leading because they know what to expect, they know standards, they know the system, they know all that stuff.”

Clark said she’s focused on “bringing people along with me, really stepping into that leadership role and just putting our heads down and working each and every day and bringing the best we can.”

Johnson echoed her teammate’s comment. “I know it’s not going to be easy, but we’re willing to take the risks that are needed to get there, and I’m really excited to do so.”

Overall, Agugua-Hamilton said, “I just think we have a mature group, and we just have to make sure we push through and be resilient and persevere through adversity. That’s the biggest thing.”

Too many times last season, Coach Mox said, the Cavaliers “hit adversity and then nobody stopped the bleeding. We didn’t respond until it was too late and we’re fighting, fighting, fighting and then we just run out of time.”

Johnson has two seasons of eligibility left. For Clark, a psychology major, this is her final go-round as a Cavalier, and that’s given her a greater sense of urgency as the season approaches.

“Definitely,” she said. “But I feel like right now I’m just taking it day by day, just staying in the gym, staying ready, and really just working on my game.”

With a much deeper roster than they had last season, the Cavaliers plan to press full court often. Clark, a defensive terror, can’t wait.

“It’s going to be great this year,” she said. “I feel like we have so many pieces and everybody’s athletic. And so I think with that, our press could be a monster this year, getting in those passing lanes, getting deflections.”

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