CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Led by 21 points from fourth-year guard Kymora Johnson, Virginia (1-0) opened its 2026-27 campaign with a dominant 87-45 win over Maryland Eastern Shore (0-1) on Monday night (Nov. 2) at John Paul Jones Arena.
Johnson led the team with 21 points on a night that saw her move up to eighth on Virginia’s all-time scoring list with 1,746 career points, passing Cathy Grimes. Johnson’s four assists on the night also moved her into third all-time at UVA with 562 for her career; passing Donna Holt’s mark of 561.
Breona Hurd (11 pts, 12 reb, 5 stl) recorded her second career double-double while Adeang Ring (10 pts, 13 reb) recorded her first. Mary-Anna Asare (10 pts, 4 reb) rounded out four Cavaliers who scored in double figures on the night.
How It Happened
Virginia trailed by as many as two points early as the teams traded baskets in the opening minutes of the game. However, the Cavaliers outscored UMES 18-2 in the final five minutes of the frame to take a 22-8 lead into the second.
UVA shot the ball at a 67-percent clip (8-for-12) in the second quarter while outscoring the Hawks 21-11 fueled by five points apiece from Johnson, Olivia McGhee and Ring in the frame. The Cavaliers took a 43-19 lead into the second half as Johnson led the team with 13 points while adding four rebounds after 20 minutes.
The Cavaliers outscored UMES 44-26 in the second half led by Breona Hurd, who netted all of her 11 points in the final two quarters as well as seven of her 12 boards. Virginia finished the game on a 12-1 run on its way to a dominant victory.
From Head Coach Aaron Roussell:
“I thought overall, [I’m] really proud of our players. I thought the effort was there today, as it was with UMES. We knew this was going to be a challenging game. I think sometimes you may look at the score, and that was not indicative of the respect I had for them, and how much I knew this was going to be a challenge today.
"I think our players played really well. I think they played really hard to come out of this where we were on the rebounding margin right there against a team that really prides itself on getting rebounds and to be plus seven on the turnovers, that was something that we really, really talked about in the locker room before the game.
"Execution maybe not perfect at times tonight. You know, I think as a coach, you want to come out in that first game and really just start clicking from the first tip. That wasn't the case, and I kind of told myself going into it it'd be great to click right away, but probably more than likely, we probably need to find a way to get to that first media timeout. I thought that's what happened. You know, I think whatever that run was coming out of the media timeout, it was probably the telltale sign of the day. And I thought our kids really, really played well and battled against their pressure in that first quarter.”
With the Win:
- Virginia improves to 6-0 in the all-time series with UMES
- Head Coach Aaron Roussell improves to 3-0
- The Cavaliers have won five consecutive season-opening games
Game Notes
- Kymora Johnson recorded four assists on the night and has passed Donna Holt for third all-time at UVA with 562 for her career.
- Johnson’s 21 points on the night move her into eighth all-time at UVA with 1,746 for her career passing Cathy Grimes.
- Four Cavaliers scored in double-figures: Johnson (21), Ring (13), Hurd (11), Asare (10)
- Every available Cavalier scored on the night
- Breona Hurd recorded her second career double-double (11 pts, 12 reb)
- Adeang Ring notched her first career double-double (13 pts, 10 reb)
- Two Cavaliers recorded double-figures on the boards: Hurd (12), Ring (10)
- Lyla Coogen recorded eight points to lead four Cavaliers making their collegiate debuts including: Erica Gribble (5 pts, 3 ast) and Sintija Aukštikalnytė (4 pts, 3 reb)
- Virginia shot 49-percent (29-59) from the floor while limiting UMES to 37-percent (18-49)
- UVA outrebounded UMES 44-25 with 12 offensive rebounds
- Virginia went 22-for-29 from the free-throw line while limiting UMES to 7-for-16
Up Next:
Virginia will travel to Davidson on Thursday (Nov. 5). Tipoff from the John M. Belk Arena is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.