CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Fueled by a 25-point second half from Kymora Johnson, the Cavaliers erased a 23-point deficit to take a lead with 24 seconds to play but ultimately fell one point short after a pair of free throws in the final seconds. Virginia (19-10, 11-7 ACC) fell to Virginia Tech (22-8, 12-6 ACC) by a score of 83-82 on Sunday afternoon (March 1) at John Paul Jones Arena.
Johnson (26 pts, 7 reb, 6 ast) led the team in scoring as she netted 25 second-half points, powering a furious comeback from the Cavaliers in which they outscored Virginia Tech 54-40 in the second half. Paris Clark recorded 16 points with four rebounds, four assists and two steals while Tabitha Amanze (11 pt, 7 reb) and Sa’Myah Smith (10 pts, 6 reb, 2 ast) rounded out a total of four Cavaliers in double figures.
Virginia Tech’s Carleigh Wenzel led all players with 29 points while Tech’s Mackenzie Nelson turned in a double-double performance with 10 points and 11 assists. The Hokies had five players score in double-figures on the day.
How it Happened
The Cavaliers scored the first basket of the game, but the Hokies responded quickly with 13 consecutive points. Led by Carys Baker’s hot shooting from beyond the arc (9 pts, 3-4 3FG) Virginia Tech kept the Cavaliers at arm’s length throughout the opening period as Virginia entered the second quarter trailing 27-13.
In the second, Virginia Tech stretched its lead to as many as 23 points to take a 39-16 lead. The Cavaliers were limited to 40 percent (10-for-25) from the field in the opening half while Virginia Tech shot the ball at a 44-percent clip (15-for-34). The Hokies made six 3-pointers to Virginia’s one and took a 43-28 advantage in the half led by Wenzel’s 12 first-half points. Breona Hurd led the Hoos in the opening half with nine points.
Virginia scored the first eight points of the second half highlighted by six consecutive points from Johnson, who was held to just one in the opening half. The Cavalier run cut the deficit to 43-36 to pull within single digits for the first time since trailing 20-11 with just over two minutes to go in the first. Johnson’s hot second-half shooting continued to the very end of the third quarter as she beat the buzzer from long range to cut the Hokie advantage to 61-57.
At the 8:12 mark of the fourth quarter, Virginia tied the game at 64-64 with a Paris Clark layup, marking the first time the score was tied since 0-0. Tech regained a lead of as many as six points [73-79] with 3:24 to play, but Amanze capped a 7-2 Virginia run with a three-point play to tie the game at 81-81 before a Clark free throw gave Virginia a one-point advantage. With 1.7 seconds remaining Wenzel sunk a pair of free throws to give the Hokies a one-point victory.
From Head Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton:
“That one hurts. We wanted to win that game for many reasons. Obviously, we always want to win a game on senior day against our rivals. We didn't start the game great at all. It was getting very bad, but I thought we battled back and showed a lot of fight down the stretch.”
Game Notes:
- The Cavaliers are 53-21 against Virginia Tech in the all-time series
- UVA is 26-11 against the Hokies on their home floor
- The result marked the first one-point game in the series since 11/23/03 (L, 63-62 vs VT)
- Virginia’s 29-point third quarter marks its second most points in a quarter on the season
- UVA’s 29 points in the third are the most the program has scored against VT in any quarter since quarters began in 2015-16
- Double-figure scorers: Johnson (26), Clark (16), Amanze (11), Smith (10)
- Kymora Johnson marked her 7th 25-point game of the season; her total ranks second in the ACC
- Johnson has scored 25 points in a second half for the second time this season (vs Winthrop, Dec. 20)
- Johnson led UVA with six assists in the game
- Johnson has recorded multiple assists in all 52 home games of her career; the streak marks the longest of any ACC player since 1999-00
- Johnson recorded 1,600 career points in her 93rd career game
- The only other UVA player to reach 1,600 points in 93 career games was Monica Wright (1,648 pts, 11/10/06 – 2/12/09)
- Johnson is the fourth NCAA DI player this century to reach at least 1,600 career points and 500 assists through 93 career games (Caitlin Clark, Iowa / Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon / Dequesha McClanahan, Winthrop)
- Johnson recorded her eighth game of the season with at least 20 pts, 5 reb and 5 ast; she is one of six players in NCAA DI to do so this season
- Clark’s 16 points mark her third-highest total of the season, and most since scoring 22 at Florida St. (1/4/26)
- The Cavaliers outrebounded the Hokies 36-35 and drop to 18-5 when outrebounding their opponent
- Virginia Tech made 10 3-pointers to Virginia’s four
- The Cavaliers dominated the paint, outscoring VT 48-24 down low
The Smithfield Commonwealth Clash
- The Smithfield Commonwealth Clash, originally called the Commonwealth Challenge (2005-2007), has been a part of the UVA-Virginia Tech rivalry since 2014.
- It is an all-sports, points-based program with the Commonwealth Clash trophy presented to the winning school each year for its dominance in head-to-head competitions.
- In women’s basketball, each of the team’s two matchups will count for half a point. Virginia currently leads the competition by a score of 6.5-3.0
Up Next:
- Seeding for the 2026 Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament at Gas South Arena in Duluth, Ga. will be announced at the conclusion of Sunday’s games (March 1).
- The Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament will tip off with the first round of action on Wednesday (March 4) and will conclude with the championship game on Sunday (March 8)
- All games in the first and second rounds will air on ACC Network (ACCN). The quarterfinal round will be split between ACCN and ESPN2.
- Both semifinal games will air on ESPN2, and Sunday’s championship game will air on ESPN.