IOWA CITY, Iowa. – The 10th-seeded Virginia women’s basketball team (19-11) is set to take on 10th-seeded Arizona State (24-10) in a First Four meeting in the 2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship on Thursday (March 19). Tipoff from Carver-Hawkeye Arena is set for 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
The winner of Thursday’s First Four game will advance to take on seventh-seeded No. 24 Georgia (22-9) in the first round Saturday (March 21) at 1:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
Broadcast Information
- Thursday’s game will air on ESPN2
- Virginia’s NCAA Tournament games will also be broadcast on WINA (98.9-FM/1070-AM), VirginiaSports.com and the Virginia Spots mobile app
- Live statistics will be provided at NCAA.com using a link posted to VirginiaSports.com
Look Hoos Dancing
- The Cavaliers are making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2018, as well as its first under head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton
- Virginia owns a 34-25 record in the NCAA Tournament
- UVA appeared in the tournament every year from 1984-2003, including a run of three consecutive Final Fours from 1990-92.
- Virginia’s last win in the tournament came in 2018, a 68-62 upset win over seventh-seeded California.
- Seven current Cavaliers have a combined 19 games of NCAA tournament experience with 11 combined wins.
- Agugua-Hamilton has made a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances as a head coach at Missouri State (2021, 2022) including a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2021.
- In her first season at Missouri State, Agugua-Hamilton had her team positioned to make the NCAA Tournament before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For Openers
- Virginia looks to record 20 wins in a season for the first time since the 2016-17 season
- UVA recorded 11 ACC wins in a season for the first time since 1999-00
- Virginia is averaging 75.3 points per game and limiting opposition to 64.3 ppg.
- The Cavaliers lead NCAA Division I with 6.8 blocks per game.
- UVA has broken the program record for blocks in a season (200) for the second consecutive season.
- UVA ranks No. 22 in NCAA Division I and leads the ACC with 17.2 assists per game.
- Virginia is in its 53rd season of women’s basketball sporting a 1,012-575 (.638) record.
Series History: First Four - Arizona State
- The Cavaliers are making their first-ever appearance in the First Four.
- The matchup marks the second meeting between the teams in series history.
- Arizona State earned a 60-50 win when the teams first met in 2004 at the Women’s Sports Foundation Classic in Baton Rouge, La.
- Virginia’s Sa’Myah Smith and ASU’s Last-Tear Poa were teammates in 2023 as both helped LSU defeat Iowa to claim it’s first-ever national title in women’s basketball.
- Head Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton participated in the first edition of the First Four when women’s basketball adopted the format in 2022.
- Agugua-Hamilton’s Missouri State Lady Bears defeated FSU 61-50 to earn the 11 seed and advance to the first round.
Series History: Round of 64 – Georgia
- Virginia is 11-7 in first round games and has advanced to the Sweet Sixteen 12 times in program history.
- The Cavaliers are 3-3 in the all-time series with Georgia Virginia holds a +14 score differential in the series
- The Bulldogs won the last meeting between the teams 64-61 on Nov. 16 2017 at John Paul Jones Arena.
- Virginia Director of Athletics, Carla Williams, was an All-SEC guard at Georgia from 1986-89. She ranks 37th in career scoring at Georgia with 1,115 points (9.4 ppg)
- Virginia’s all-time leading scorer, Monica Wright, scored her 2,000th career point against Georgia (12/20/09). Wright is one of three players in program history to score 2,000 pts (Dawn Staley, Heather Burge)
- Georgia sophomore forward, Mia Woolfolk, is a native of Midlothian, Va. and the sister of Jay Woolfolk a former quarterback and starting pitcher for the UVA football and baseball programs (2022-2025).
Johnson’s Statistical Milestones
- This season, Johnson has connected on 88 three-pointers to set a single-season program record.
- She has made 216 career three-pointers chasing Tora Suber’s program record of 220.
- Johnson set a UVA single-game record with 10 three pointers in a win over Winthrop (Dec. 20)
- She ranks No. 8 in NCAA Division I and leads the ACC with 2.93 three-pointers per game this season
- Johnson surpassed 1,600 career points in her 93rd career game in the regular season finale.
- She is tied with Donna Holt for 10th in program history with 1,634 points.
- Johnson is just the fourth Division I player this century to reach at least 1,600 career points, and 500 career assists through 93 games joining Caitlin Clark (Iowa), Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon) and Dequesha McClanahan (Winthrop).
- She is one of three players in NCAA DI averaging at least 19 points and 5.5 assists per game
- In 2025, Johnson became one of just three players in program history to record a triple double (20pts, 11reb, 11ast at Pitt).
- The only other Cavaliers to accomplish the feat are Dawn Staley and Romi Levy.
Playoff Sa’Myah…
- In 2024-25, Sa’Myah Smith was sensational in the NCAA Tournament averaging 13.8 points and 10.25 rebounds while shooting the ball at a 63.9 percent clip
- She scored a career-high 21 points while pulling down 11 rebounds in a win over NC State in the Sweet 16 last season
- Smith has recorded a pair of 20-pt performances in the NCAA tournament and three total games in double figures, each of which took place in the 2025 tournament.
- Smith helped lead LSU to an elite eight appearance in 2025 starting all four games for the Tigers
- As a freshman in 2023, Smith came off the bench to help the Tigers claim the NCAA title
- In two NCAA tournaments at LSU, Smith averaged 6.7 pts and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting the ball at a 61.7 percent clip
Block Party
- Virginia leads NCAA Division I with 6.7 blocks per game and is on track to be the second highest of any ACC team in the last 20 seasons, behind only the 2020-21 Syracuse squad (7.04).
- The Cavaliers have blocked at least 10 shots in four different games this season (Georgia Tech, FSU, Howard, UMES, and Morgan St.)
- Nine different Cavaliers are up to double-figures in blocks on the season, the most of any team in NCAA Division I
- Tabitha Amanze leads Virginia with 43 blocks on the season.
Crash the Glass
- The Cavaliers are 12th in NCAA Division I and lead the ACC in rebounding margin with a mark of 9.5
- The highest average rebound differential by any Virginia team this century was +6.5 in 2008-09.
- Virginia ranks second in the ACC with 14.6 offensive rebounds per game
- Weimar leads the team with 80 offensive boards on the season while Amanze has pulled down 75.
Dropping Dimes
- Virginia ranks No. 21 in NCAA Division I and leads the ACC with 17.2 assists per game as a team.
- The Cavaliers have recorded 20+ assists on eight occasions this season and posted 18+ assists 14 times as a team.
- Kymora Johnson ranks No. 14 in Division I and leads the ACC averaging 5.9 assists per game.
- With 535 career assists, Johnson ranks fourth in program history. She trails Donna Holt (561) for fourth on the list
- She recorded a season-high 11 assists against FSU.
Elite Bench Production
- Caitlin Weimar has provided crucial production off the bench this season for UVA
- Weimar ranks third among six total ACC players to record multiple 20-point games off the bench this season (25 pts at WF, 20 pts vs Pitt)
- Gabby White logged career highs in points (22), rebounds (12) and assists (6) off the bench in a triple-overtime victory at Wake Forest.
- The Cavaliers scored a season-high 56 points off the bench at Wake Forest
- Among ACC players with 10 or less starts this season, Weimar ranks first with 1.3 blocks per game, and third with 2.6 offensive rebounds per game and second with 5.9 total rebounds per game.