The Plus/Minus: Virginia Women’s Basketball overwhelms Bucknell

Plus

A win is a win is a win. The Cavaliers jumped out to a 13 – 0 lead and were leading 26 – 6 after the first quarter. With five minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Virginia was leading 56 – 23. Kymora Johnson had 22 points, almost outscoring Bucknell by herself.

Minus

The announcers repeatedly made the claim about how much Virginia was learning about itself in this early season, and I am here to tell you that you learn nothing in 45-point victory. NC State took on USC today; Florida State played Connecticut. Those are games in which you can learn something, not cupcake games like this.

Plus

Kymora Johnson is pumped and she had a second straight offensive explosion in the first quarter, scoring 14 of Virginia’s 26 points in the first frame. For the game, she finished with 23 points on 9/14 shooting, 4/7 from deep. She added seven assists and five steals, all in 26 minutes of playing time. At that five-minute mark in the 3rd quarter, Johnson by herself was averaging 0.55 points per possession.

Plus

Virginia grabbed 55 rebounds, 17 of them off the offensive glass. Of course, that is what you should do when Bucknell gave a whopping total of 12 minutes to players standing over six feet tall. The women are doing a good job crashing the boards, but it is easier to rebound when you know you have such a pronounced height advantage.

Minus

Outside of Johnson, three point shooting is not looking good. Johnson was 4/7 from beyond the arc while the rest of the team was 1/14. Over two games, against markedly inferior competition, non-Johnson shooters are 5/34 from deep. These have been, for the most part, wide open looks.

Minus

After a great game from the free throw line against Morgan State, the Hoos crashed back to earth, shooting 13/22 (59%) from the charity stripe. That won’t get the job done in the ACC. The good news is that Breona Hurd is doing well enough, though the small-sample size caveat applies, in that she has canned both of her free throws in each of the past two games.

Plus

Regular readers know that I have been critical of the team’s inability to fast break well. Today, we saw two outlet passes and a pair of long range passes forward which is far better than the team usually displays.

Minus

Still too many coast-to-coast jaunts only to finish 1 v 3 at the rim. Romi Levy converted her attempt and Gabby White was fouled on her attempt but this tunnel vision will doom the team as the competition picks up.

Plus

Gabby White is not playing like a freshman. She finished with 11 points on 4/7 shooting. She added six rebounds, three offensive, three assists and a block in 18 minutes. With the loss of Yonta Vaughn, a backup PG was a necessity.

Highlights

Minus

I don’t know if Olivia McGhee is playing with a knock or has played her way into Coach Agugua-Hamilton’s doghouse, but she logged just six minutes of playing time. And to be frank, it didn’t feel even like that much.

Plus

Caitlin Weimar had a solid game with eight points on 4/6 shooting and grabbing six rebounds, half on the offensive end. On offensive boards, she puts up her shot very quickly, which should translate into some free throw opportunities.

Next Up: The women host UMBC on Thursday, November 13th at 7:00pm. The game will be on ACC Network Extra.