LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Romi Levy drilled a clutch 3-pointer with 13 seconds remaining to secure the victory as Virginia (19-8, 11-5 ACC) downed No. 8 Louisville (24-5, 14-2 ACC) by a score of 74-72 on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 22) at the KFC Yum! Center. The Cavaliers secured their 11th ACC victory, their most in a season since 1999-00.
Paris Clark filled up the stat sheet with 14 points on the day while racking up eight assists and six rebounds. Johnson led the team with 16 points on the day while recording three assists and a pair of rebounds. Levy rounded out Virginia’s trio of double-figure scorers with 15 points (6-9 FG, 3-5 3FG).
Sa’Myah Smith and Tabitha Amanze scored nine points apiece and combined for four blocked shots as Amanze led the team with three of her own. The Cavaliers outscored Louisville 38-22 in the paint as a team.
How It Happened
The Cavaliers trailed by seven points (10-3) early but scored 11 consecutive points to surge to a 14-10 advantage. Over the last seven minutes of the opening quarter Virginia outscored Louisville 15-4 and took an 18-14 lead into the second. Levy and Smith each poured in five first-quarter points to lead all players.
The Cavaliers outscored Louisville 9-2 in the opening two minutes of the second quarter to stretch their lead to double digits [27-16]. UVA would lead by as many as 13 points [37-24] in the half and took a 41-30 advantage into the break. Levy led the Cavaliers with 10 points at the half while Clark recorded nine points, six assists and four rebounds. Virginia shot 56 percent from the floor in the first half including 4-for-8 from 3-point range while holding Louisville to just 26 percent from the field.
The Cardinals scored the first eight points of the second half to cut the Cavalier lead to three points [41-38]. Virginia’s advantage would eventually be cut to just a pair [46-44] as the Cardinals outscored the Cavaliers 19-15 in the third period. Virginia would take a 56-49 advantage into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, the Cardinals mounted an 8-2 scoring run to tie the game for the first time since the 5:27 mark in the opening quarter. Louisville then took its first lead [68-69] since the opening quarter on a Reyna Scott 3-pointer with 1:33 remaining in the game. Johnson answered with a 3-pointer of her own to regain the lead [71-69]. The advantage swung back to the Cardinals, who led by a point [71-72] with 31 seconds to play, before Levy connected from beyond the arc to give Virginia the lead for good.
From Head Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton:
"I'm just so proud of our group. Honestly, I was playing, I was emotional after the game, because my message before the game was we know, like we know how good we are. We know the kind of adversity we've been through this year, individually and as a team. We know how hard we work. We know we're coming together at the right time, and people don't know that. We knew that nobody wanted us or thought we were going to win this game, but we knew, we knew when we beat them three days ago in practice, and then two days ago in practice and then yesterday in practice. So you know, I'm just so proud of our group. Never know whose night is going to be. There were just so many outstanding performances tonight. But our will, our refuse to lose. We were up. We controlled the game the whole time. I just, I couldn't be more proud."
With the Win:
- UVA records its 11th win in ACC play; its most in a season since 1999-00
- The Cavaliers record their seventh win over higher-ranked teams under head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton; four of those wins have come on the road
- Virginia marks its first win over a top-10 opponent since defeating No. 8 North Carolina (3/2/25)
- The Cavaliers have notched three wins over top-10 opponents under Agugua-Hamilton
- UVA hands Louisville just its second home defeat to an unranked ACC opponent, Virginia remains the only team to do so after a win in 2024
- The Cardinals are now 67-2 against unranked ACC opponents at KFC Yum! Center
- Virginia improves to 4-12 in the all-time series with Louisville
- The Cavaliers are 2-6 against the Cardinals on the road
Game Notes
- Double figure scorers: Johnson (16), Levy (15), Clark (14)
- Paris Clark led the team with eight assists, four shy of her career high
- Romi Levy connected a season-high three times from beyond the arc
- Tabitha Amanze scored nine points with 11 rebounds and three blocks
- Kymora Johnson scored 12 of her 16 points in the second half
- The Cavaliers blocked 7 shots on the day
- Amanze led the team with three blocks
- Virginia shot 50 percent from the floor and held Louisville to 36 percent
- Virginia was outrebounded 40-32 and improves to 1-3 when losing the rebound battle
- The Cavaliers outscored Louisville 38-22 in the paint
Up Next:
- The Cavaliers return home to take on No. 22 North Carolina on Thursday (Feb. 26). Tipoff from JPJ is set for 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra (ACCNX).
- Fans can also tune in live on WINA (98.9FM/1070AM)