Cavaliers Now

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Women’s Basketball Surges Late Past UNC

Nearly run off the court by UNC through one and a half quarters, Virginia found a second gear and prevailed in Chapel Hill 78 – 75.
Val Prochaska|
Virginia Athletics

It was a bad day in Chapel Hill.  Virginia knocked off North Carolina in men’s tennis.  Princeton beat the Tar Heels in men’s lacrosse.  And this loss to Virginia puts UNC in the unenviable position of rooting for Duke to win against Florida State to keep a top-4 double-bye for the ACC Tournament.

Plus

A win is a win and with this win, Virginia claims their first signature victory of the season.  Yeah, UNC was without Alyssa Ustby and Reniya Kelly, both 10 point scorers, but everyone has injuries.  UVa has been without Yonta Vaughn for most of the season and Paris Clark has battled through illness and injury all season.  UNC is the No. 8 team in the nation, playing at home, on Senior Day.  UNC was playing for an additional day of rest for Ustby and Kelly, which they now may have lost.

Plus

The women played one of the more desultory games of the season midweek at SMU.  I wrote that the game, “was NOT an advertisement for women’s basketball.”  Well, this game was.  And it was two senior 5s who were the stars of the show.  UNC’s Maria Gakdeng recorded a career-high 25 points on 9/10 shooting and a 7/8 outing at the free throw line.  Her counterpart, Latasha Lattimore, scored 23 points on 10/14 shooting and showed her range by going 2/4 from three.  Gakdeng, for her part, dished out five assists and grabbed five offensive rebounds.  They went at each other all game, each showcasing beautiful footwork and the experience that befits fourth-year seniors. 

Gakdeng had the edge in effectiveness as she was able to force Lattimore and Edessa Noyan into foul trouble while only picking up one foul herself.

Minus

UNC opened up a 10-point lead at the end of the first quarter and it ballooned to 18 points with just three minutes left in the half.  UNC put on a clinic in how to run the fast break:

Two players ahead of the ball, wide and on each wing. And Indya Nivar can make a nice easy pass.

This is what an all-too-typical (even at this late stage of the season) Virginia fast break looks like. 

Breona Hurd puts her head down and goes coast-to-coast into a 1 v 2 at the rim.  She made the bucket and the and-1, but going 1 v 2 is a loser’s move.  Unfortunately, twice early in the second quarter (and again, later in the third) Hurd, so emboldened by her success here, tried to go 1 v 2 at the rim.  It didn’t go well.

Plus

Virginia closed the first half on a 7-0 run and kicked off the third quarter on an 8-2 run.  That’s how you make a 17-point deficit go away.

Following the SMU game I opined that Kymora Johnson, who’d been scoreless in the first half, might just be a slow starter.  She had another first-half goose egg in this one, but there might just be a method to her madness.  This is a thin Virginia team.  RyLee Grays is still out and Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton has seemingly lost complete confidence in Casey Valenti-Paea and Taylor Lauterbach to the point that she would rather play just six players than give Casey or Taylor any time on the floor. 

Johnson knows she is going to play all 40 minutes and she also knows that the fourth quarter is more important than the first one.  Johnson spent the first half dropping seven assists and getting two steals and letting her teammates do the running.  Johnson followed her scoreless first half with nine third-quarter points.  For the game, Johnson had 15 points, 11 assists, and was just one rebound shy of her second career double-double.

Minus

UNC and Virginia both misplayed their final sequences.

Down 74 - 73 with 27 seconds remaining, UNC could hold the ball for the last shot and potentially win the game. Except that Indya Nivar scored within nine seconds. UNC held the lead, but now Virginia could score.

Which they did, six seconds later when Clark went to the rim. She was fouled and she made both her foul shots.

Which still gave UNC 13 seconds (!) left to score. They didn't. Johnson grabbed the rebound and was fouled. She's a great free throw shooter and she made both.

The lack of situational awareness is shocking.

Minus

What is worrying is that Johnson isn’t shooting well from deep lately.  She did have a 6/11 night against Stanford, but outside of that, over her last 10 games, she’s connected at a 26% clip (12/45.)  That’s not good.

Plus

Paris Clark (3/6) and Edessa Noyan (4/6) picked up the slack from deep as the Hoos shot a collective 11/23 (48%) from beyond the arc.  Long-range shooting isn’t Clark’s game, but if she is getting into the groove – 5/11 the last two out – then it should afford her better driving lanes.  For her part, Noyan tied her career high with 16 points, while Clark had 17 points. Three Cavs scoring more than Johnson in a single game?  48% from three?  You can win a lot of games that way.

Read More: Matt's Takeaways

Looking Ahead

This was the final game of the ACC season and the tournament begins on Wednesday, March 5th in Greensboro.  Even though there are still games to play as I write this, Virginia is locked into the 10th seed and will play, once again, on the first day of the tournament.  They will play the second game on Wednesday at 3:30pm.  I’m hoping that Miami is the last team in because Haley Cavinder is a baller and is the best player on the bottom four or five teams.

I will be there from tip-off to the championship game on Sunday.  It will be my third year bringing the sights and sounds of tournament week.  I hope you’ll join me.

More UVA Women's Basketball News & Content

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Women’s Basketball Too Much for SMU

The Plus/Minus: UVA Women's Basketball Thrashes Stanford

Kymora Johnson Scores 33 Points, UVA Women's Basketball Beats Stanford 89-69

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Women’s Basketball Can’t Overcome Cal

Sparked by Mo Johnson's Triple-Double, Virginia Looks to Finish Strong

Published | Modified
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.

Share on XFollow Jerzy_Walker