Cavaliers Survive Overtime Thriller in NCAA First RoundCavaliers Survive Overtime Thriller in NCAA First Round

Cavaliers Survive Overtime Thriller in NCAA First Round

Kymora Johnson and Sa’Myah Smith became the first Cavalier duo to score 20 points apiece in an NCAA Tournament game since 1992 as UVA survived an overtime thriller in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The 10th-seeded Cavaliers (21-11) downed seventh-seeded No. 24 Georgia (22-10) 82-72 on Saturday (March 21) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Kymora Johnson and Sa’Myah Smith became the first Cavalier duo to score 20 points apiece in an NCAA Tournament game since 1992 as UVA survived an overtime thriller in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The 10th-seeded Cavaliers (21-11) downed seventh-seeded No. 24 Georgia (22-10) 82-72 on Saturday (March 21) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Kymora Johnson (28 pts, 5-10 3FG, 7 reb, 4 ast) did it all for Virginia, leading the team in scoring for the second consecutive game. Her five three-pointers are tied for the second most by a Cavalier in an NCAA Tournament game and increased her career total to 223, passing Tora Suber for the program record.

Sa’Myah Smith scored a career-high 23 points and was an efficient 8-for-12 from the floor. She led the Cavaliers to a hot start and scored five of Virginia’s 11 points in the overtime period. Romi Levy (14 pts, 5-10 FG, 4-6 3FG, 5 stl) rounded out a trio of Cavaliers in double figures.  

How it Happened
Smith was the driving force behind Virginia’s hot start to the game. She went a perfect 8-for-8 from the field to score 12 first-quarter points and guide Virginia to a 24-16 advantage after the first 10 minutes.

After a slow start, Georgia’s Rylie Theuerkauf powered a rally in the second quarter. She went a perfect 5-for-5 in the second quarter to lead all players with 20 first-half points as Virginia went into the half trailing 43-42. Smith ended the half with 18 points on a perfect 8-for-8 from the field.

The Cavaliers faced a 55-48 deficit with 2:44 to play in the third quarter. Virginia went 4-for-8 from deep in the third period highlighted by Johnson who connected in the final seconds of the period to cut the Georgia lead to 59-56.

After trailing by as many as eight points, back-to-back UVA triples in fourth quarter cut the Georgia lead to one before Caitlin Weimar’s elbow jumper put Virginia ahead 68-67. Georgia regained a three-point lead, but Romi Levy connected from deep to square the game at 71-71 and force overtime.

Smith scored five of Virginia’s 11 points in the overtime frame while the Cavaliers held Georgia to just two points in the extra period.

From Head Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton:
First of all, I was kind of emotional in the locker room because I'm just so proud of our players. I'm so proud of our group, our staff, everybody. We've been through a lot this season. There's been a lot of ups and downs, a lot of people that counted us out. And we just stayed together, and we knew what we had and were clicking at the right time.

There was a lot of adversity in that game and we had to fight to push it to overtime and then also to do what we did in overtime. Once we got to overtime, we knew it was our game. We came out with a lot of urgency.

Proud of this group. Proud of these two. Today they were phenomenal. And then also Georgia played a great game. I have a lot of respect for Coach Abe. A very good friend of mine and well-coached team. They had a great year. 

With the Win:

  • UVA is the second team to advance to the Round of 32 after playing in the First Four (Mississippi State, 2023)
  • The Cavaliers marked the second overtime victory in the NCAA Tournament in program history
  • The Cavaliers improve to 3-1 in overtime games this season
  • Virginia improves to 12-7 all-time in the first round of the NCAA Tournament
  • The Cavaliers advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018 after defeating California 68-62
  • Virginia is 3-1 as a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament
  • The Cavaliers improve to 4-3 in the all-time series with Georgia
  • Virginia records its second victory (2-10) when trailing at the half this season
  • Georgia falls to 21-2 when leading at the half

Game Notes:

  • Double-figure scorers: Johnson (28), Smith (23), Levy (14)
  • Smith’s 23 points marked a career-high
  • Smith started the game 8-for-8 from the floor and finished 10-12
  • Smith is the 13th UVA player to record at least 20 pts and 10 reb in an NCAA Tournament game – and is the first Cavalier to do so since 2008 (Lyndra Littles, 29 pts/14 reb vs ODU)
  • Johnson’s 28 points mark the sixth-most by a Cavalier in an NCAA Tournament game
  • Multiple Cavaliers scored 20+ pts in the same NCAA Tournament game for the sixth time in program history
  • The last time multiple Cavaliers recorded 20+ pts in an NCAA Tournament game was in 1992 (Heather Burge, Dawn Staley)
  • The Cavaliers improve to 6-0 in NCAA Tournament games when multiple players score 20 pts
  • Smith and Johnson become the first Cavaliers to score 20 pts in a game since Monica Wright did so in 2010 (34 pts, vs Green Bay, 3/21/10)
  • Romi Levy (14 pts) scored in double figures for the 10th time this season
  • Levy (5 stl) was one shy of her career high of six–also against Georgia (1/3/21)
  • Johnson (6 ast) recorded her 16th game with at least six assists
  • The Cavaliers shot 51 percent for the game and improve to 9-2 on the season when shooting 50 percent or better
  • Virginia Shot 65 percent (17-26) in the first half while Georgia shot 54 percent (14-26)
  • UVA outrebounded Georgia 37-26 and improves to 20-9 when outrebounding opponents
  • Virginia went 12-15 from the free-throw line, Georgia went 22-35 from the line

Up Next:

  • The Cavaliers advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and will take on the winner of Iowa-FDU on Monday (March 23). Tip time and television designation is still to be announced.

WBB Postgame: Georgia