New-Look Hoos Complete Summer Assignment

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Class dismissed.

After eight weeks of studying the system that new head coach Aaron Roussell is installing at John Paul Jones Arena, University of Virginia women’s basketball players wrapped up their summer session Wednesday afternoon.

The team will reconvene on Aug. 25 with a full roster.

Two Cavaliers—freshman guards Emilie Brzonova (Czech Republic) and Sintija Aukštikalnytė (Lithuania)—competed for their respective national teams this summer and have yet to arrive on Grounds. Their Virginia teammates, though, got “a glimpse of how we’re playing, which I think is helpful,” Roussell said.

“When you first get into it, it's a lot. And so I think we're treating this as, hey, we gave everybody a taste, and we’ll come back on August 25^th almost kind of starting anew. Some of that will allow the new kids to get up to speed. But I think any time you've learned something for the first time, learned something from the beginning multiple times, that will help. Not that we'll tear it down, but I think we'll restart everything August 25^th.”

For most of the summer, the coaching staff had nine players to work with on the court: returners Kymora Johnson, Olivia McGhee, Adean Ring and Breona Hurd, plus newcomers Mary-Anna Asare, Janaé Walker, Eris Lester, Lyla Coogen and Erica Gribble. (A 10^th player, returner Tabitha Amanze, is recovering from a knee injury and is rehabbing with athletic trainer Anthony Crescienzi.)

Caterina Piatti, a 6-foot-4 sophomore from Italy, played for her country in Europe early in the summer but arrived on Grounds last month in time to start learning Roussell’s system. She’s a transfer from the University of Florida, where she played last season for Kelly Rae Finley, who’s now associate head coach at UVA.

With his players this summer, Roussell said, he focused on “reprogramming them just to play freely in our style. It's a lot of quick decisions. So you have to think, but you also have to have times where you're letting your instincts take over. So much of what we talk about is spacing, so much of everything we talk about is pace.  And the pace and the space, that just takes some getting used to. And so I think it was getting them to play with each other, getting them to understand what their skill sets are and how it fits in our style.

“And I think we did that. I think they're at a good spot. None of us are perfect, but if we had been together for three years, we wouldn't be perfect in the summer, either.”

Roussell took over at UVA in April after seven seasons as head coach at the University of Richmond. The Spiders went 148-72 under Roussell and advanced to the NCAA tournament in each of his final three seasons.

Richmond’s crosstown rival in the Atlantic 10 is Virginia Commonwealth University, whose standouts in recent years included Asare, a 5-foot-8 guard from Pickering, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto. Excited about the opportunity to play for Roussell, Asare transferred to UVA after the 2025-26 academic year.

“It’s nice for us to be together, for sure,” Roussell said.

“It was time for Richmond and VCU to come together,” Asare said, smiling.

In Asare’s four years with the Rams, they defeated the Spiders only once. That was on Jan. 11, 2023, at UR’s Robins Center. That was the Richmond’s last A-10 home loss under Roussell.

“I tell people that that game taught me a lot,” Roussell said.

Asked what stood out to her about Roussell’s teams at Richmond, Asare said, “I think just how unpredictable they were. When we scouted them, it was literally like you have to be ready to guard the next action. You could guard the first action, but it's the second action that matters and how well they move off the ball. They always screen for each other and find the best shot for other people. So that was one of the things I admired about his offense, and I'm happy to be in the offense now and not guarding it. So it's fun.”

An injury limited Asare to seven games last season, but she made the All-Atlantic 10 second team in 2024-25, when she averaged 16.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game.

She’s sparkled at JPJ, too. “I've known Mary for a long time, so I don't know if it was a surprise,” Roussell said, “but I think it was a surprise for others that Mary did what she did this summer.”

Life at a new school and with new teammates and coaches is “definitely a change,” Asare said, “but I always knew I wanted to play at a higher level, and playing with a coach that knows me, knows my playing style, who's seen me play and develop in my four years, I think this change was good. It felt right. When I came here on a visit, I committed right here on the spot, because I knew it was just the right fit. But other than that, I think it's a great group, and I like the playing style.”

Another newcomer who impressed this summer was Lester, a 5-foot-11 transfer from the University of Alabama. “With her athleticism and just her fit, I think she really showed out and showed that she's going to make an impact for us,” Roussell said.

The Cavaliers’ most decorated player, Johnson, missed the final summer practice at JPJ, but hers was an excused absence. A 5-foot-7 guard who’s an All-America candidate, Johnson was in Los Angeles taking part in a Nike skills academy, “which is really a great honor and really cool experience for her,” Roussell said.

𝙀𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚 🔥#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/KrbIgV4sxw

— Virginia Women's Basketball (@UVAWomensHoops) August 5, 2026

Of Virginia’s healthy returning players, only Johnson averaged more than 12 minutes per game in 2025-26. The 6-foot-5 Ring averaged 3.6 points, 2.5 rebounds and 11.7 minutes per game. Hurd, who also averaged 11.7 minutes per game, scored a career-high 22 points against UMBC early in the season but hurt her left knee three days later, and the injury sidelined her for more about six weeks.

A 6-foot-2 forward, Hurd was in and out of the lineup after being cleared to play again, but Roussell liked what her saw from her this summer. “I’m really encouraged about what I think Bre Hurd can do in our system,” he said.

McGhee, a 6-foot-2 wing from nearly Louisa County, dealt with an injury last season too. She played in four games before having season-ending surgery on her ankle.

Healthy again, McGhee said Wednesday that playing for a new staff “kind of gives me a clean slate to build my confidence and do things I haven't done in the past years and be more aggressive and grow my game.”

With so much turnover in the program, McGhee said, “I think we're just building a lot of chemistry right now. Coach is putting a system in, and we're just trying to get comfortable with that system. So we’re making a lot of mistakes, making them fast and working through it.”

McGhee said she’s been impressed at one point or another by all of the Cavaliers’ newcomers.

“I feel like everyone brings a unique piece to this team and this system,” she said, “and I'm excited to see how they grow even more in preseason.”

The Wahoos have only begun learning Roussell’s system, but McGhee said she’s enjoyed “the freedom and what he allows us to do. There’s not a lot of set plays. It's more like actions, and we just play basketball with that. So I’m looking forward to that and getting to know my teammates better and getting them the ball where they need it.”

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