Cavaliers Now

The Christmas Plus/Minus: Virginia Women’s Basketball Coasts by Winthrop

Fueled by Kymora Johnson’s 41-point masterpiece, Virginia erupted in the second half en route to an 88 – 53 victory over Winthrop.
Val Prochaska|
Kymora Johnson celebrates her tenth three-pointer of the night.
Kymora Johnson celebrates her tenth three-pointer of the night. | Virginia Athletics

Plus

A win is a win is … Holy cow, this was anything but a run of the mill cupcake game.  Kymora Johnson must have been stewing in the 10 days since her dud of a performance vs Howard before the exam break.  Johnson erupted for 41 points, a career high and the second highest total in program history.  Johnson was 15/20 from the floor, including 10/13 from behind the arc.  10 made threes?  The most in Virginia basketball history, be it for the men or women.  (Kymora also connected on a three that was whistled dead for a foul in the paint as the ball was leaving her hands.) 

When you are so on that even shots like this go in…

Plus

Sticking with Johnson for a bit, this was a balanced performance:  she had six points in the first quarter.  Doesn’t sound like a lot, but this game was hard fought the first half and Winthrop themselves only had six first-quarter points.  Johnson had eight points in the second as Virginia was actually outscored 16 – 15 in the quarter.  I think Johnson’s biggest shot of the night was in the second.  Winthrop had made a six-point run (in a game that was 19 – 5 at the time) and their full-court press was causing Virginia some trouble.  It had all the makings of a run, except that Johnson canned a three to restore an 11-point lead.  It was game over at that point.

Virginia then broke open the game in the third period.  After scoring 32 points in the entire first half, the Hoos scored 27 points in the third and Johnson lead the way with 10 points.  And then Johnson went crazy in the fourth, which is what is required to score 41 points in game, scoring 17 points on 5/5 shooting from deep.

Plus

Two years ago, there had been just one person in Virginia women’s basketball history who had recorded a triple-double.  Unsurprisingly, it was Dawn Staley, who did it twice.  Then last year Johnson had a triple-double and already this year Romi Levy accomplished the same.  Well, Paris Clark was one rebound shy of her own triple-double scoring 11 points, grabbing nine boards and dishing 12 assists.  She had a crap shooting night – 4/15 from the floor and 1/6 from three – but, her movement in the open court was excellent.  Virginia is breaking much better this year and Clark’s improvement in receiving the exit pass and then facilitating around the rim is a big factor in this growth.

Minus

Johnson was 10/13 from deep; the rest of the team was 2/13.  Clark was 1/6,  Jillian Brown was 1/4 while Adeang Ring was 0/3.

Minus

Romi Levy was in street clothes and it has been announced that Olivia McGhee is lost for the season and she was seen with a hard cast on her foot.  Breonna Hurd, who has missed the last six games dressed out, but she was at the end of the bench and was never going to play today.

Plus

Winthrop’s Amouri Porter is a baller and it was easy to see why she was the Big South’s pre-season Player of the Year.  She was absolutely relentless attacking the rim.  Bear in mind she stands 5’ 10” and Virginia, even in Levy’s absence, had three players standing taller than 6’ 4”.  Porter simply did not care.  She had a 6/19 kind of night because she chose not to alter her play, but she did score 22 points on the back of a 9/9 performance from the charity stripe.  She also had three offensive rebounds.

I hope Gabby White was taking notes, because Porter showed her what kind of player she could be.

Highlights:

Minus

Two weeks ago I wrote that the only reason for today’s game was to get Sa’Myah Smith time on the court and game fit.  Smith had an 18-point double-double last game out against Howard, but today was a completely different story.  She picked up her second foul at the 8:13 mark of the second quarter and coach Agugua-Hamilton chose to foul her out of the half.  Virginia was up 19 – 6, having held Winthrop to a point every other minute through 12 minutes.  This game was over.  Who cares if Smith might not be available in the fourth?  She needs the reps with the first team offense more than anything else right now.  And coach Mox ensured that that didn’t happen.  Smith had a stinker of a game, collecting as many fouls as rebounds – three apiece – and scoring just two points in 11 minutes.  Coach Mox is still not set on her Tabitha Amanze/Caitlyn Weimar rotation after 11 games, and Levy and Hurd are out for the time being.  This team needs Smith to be ready to go like now. Smith needed a lot more than 11 minutes.

Plus

Excellent ball movement is rapidly becoming a feature of Virginia’s play and not merely an aberration.  Virginia had 28 assists on 34 made buckets.  In addition to Clark’s 12, both Johnson and Gabby White dished out five dimes.

Next Up:  ACC play resumes in earnest for Virginia.  There are no more cupcakes on the schedule and every game now matters.  Virginia hosts SMU on Monday, December 29th.  Game time is 7:00pm and the game can be streamed on ACC Network Extra.

Published
Val Prochaska
VAL PROCHASKA

Val graduated from the University of Virginia in the last millennium, back when writing one's senior thesis by hand was still a thing. He is a lifelong fan of the ACC, having chosen the Tobacco Road conference ahead of the Big East. Again, when that was still a thing. Val has covered Virginia men's basketball for nine years, first with HoosPlace and then with StreakingTheLawn, before joining us here at Virginia Cavaliers on SI in August of 2023, continuing to cover UVA men's basketball and also writing about women's soccer and women's basketball.

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