The Plus/Minus: Virginia Women’s Basketball Escapes in 2OT vs Florida State

Plus

A win is a win is a win, but honestly, this was too close for comfort. There are games where you just don’t want to stop playing, and the Cavaliers must have felt that way as the opening frame ended with Virginia up 30 – 15. That three-minute intermission was enough to crack Virginia’s momentum and the Hoos were outscored in each of the next three periods.

Plus

Paris Clark, who would go on to score a career high 22 points, was on fire in the first period and set the tone for that 30-point quarter. She scored 10 points (2/3 from deep,) handed out three assists and grabbed three rebounds. Clark’s scoring has been erratic this season: she’s had six games in double figures but also five games where she’s scored five points or less. She had her hands full trying to stay in front of FSU’s Sole’ Williams and Amaya Bonner all game, but she still made overtime’s defining play when she stripped Bonner with Virginia holding a one-point lead.

Plus

I have been extremely critical of Virginia’s inability to run an effective fast break. I’ve actually counted the number of outlet passes the team has thrown the past two years – it’s been in single digits each year -- and noted that players out in front of the ball aren’t even looking for the ball. The team has gotten better this year, but the Hoos put on a Duke-like masterclass today.

The game highlights are below, but watch the 1st, 2nd and 4th clips. That would have been a season’s worth of fast break highlights… and that was just the first five minutes of the game. Virginia had three more breaks like that for the game.

Highlights from Double OT thriller! 🔥🔥#GoHoos🔸⚔️🔹 #GNSL pic.twitter.com/CHJ0oznUCh
— Virginia Women's Basketball (@UVAWomensHoops) January 4, 2026

If Virginia can break like this, then they can be playing for a double-bye in the ACC tournament. This is a huge development for the Hoos.

Minus

This is a much-diminished Florida State team. O’Mariah Gordon and Makayla Timpson have graduated and Ta’Niya Latson is plying her trade for Dawn Staley. This is not a particularly good FSU team: they are now 0 – 4 in ACC play and 5 – 11 overall. And yet the Cavaliers let the ‘Noles back into the game, getting outscored in the second and the third and the fourth periods. FSU went 3/9 from the free throw line in the two overtime periods. Twice in the first OT, if a single FSU player had made a single free throw, Virginia would be walking away with a loss.

(It was a pretty poor performance all the way ‘round from the line, for both teams. Virginia and FSU combined to go 23/40. For point of reference, that’s about what average high school teams convert at.) A lot of points were left at the table.

Plus

Last year Kymora Johnson set her career high of 31 points… against these Seminoles. Johnson matched that 31-point outburst with 31 points today. She played all 50 minutes, dished 11 dimes and snagged eight rebounds. We’ve all gotten used to performances like this, but Johnson’s defense has improved this season as well. It was Clark that was targeted more often than Johnson.

Plus

Here’s proof that turnovers matter. At the half, just to use an easy datapoint, Virginia was up 45 – 32 and the Cavaliers were pummeling FSU by most available measures: a 7 -2 advantage in threes, a 30 – 17 lead in rebounds, they had 8 blocked shots, and Virginia had assisted on 13 of 18 baskets. Those are blowout range kinds of numbers and yet FSU was still in the game because they only had three turnovers and would only have five at the end of three quarters. Good ball security means that you’re playing a solid game and still not panicking, which are traits that are needed for 17-point comebacks like FSU made.

Minus

The bigs have had better games than they did today. Tabitha Amanze fouled out and scored six points, Romi Levy scored a similar six points, Sa’Mayah Smith and Caitlyn Weimar each had four, and Audeang Ring had eight (though she did nicely can a pair of threes.) Virginia’s ball movement, which was brilliant in the first quarter and then got worse with each subsequent quarter, was marked by a lot of standing around by the bigs. As a group, they all looked tentative. Both Amanze and Smith have to learn how to establish post position when they are being fronted.

Minus

Maybe I am late to the party, but one problem that I noticed lately with ACC officiating, both men and women, has been an increase in foul calls by the trailing ref. You know, the ref that doesn’t have the best perspective. The call on Uganna Onyenso? The one that got Ryan Odom T’ed up? Yep, the trailing official. There were at least three such calls today.

Plus

Shout out to Florida State’s Brooke Wycoff. This is a weak Florida State, and her team took it to Virginia for two overtimes, a Virginia team that is poised to move into the upper echelon of the ACC. Look at her out-of-conference slate, it’s brutal. She scheduled Alabama, Connecticut, Indiana, Florida, Illinois, and Oklahoma outside of her ACC v SEC game with Georgia. This is a team that is ready for the ACC.

Plus

This season is about a week away from getting very interesting. If this team can capitalize on the break going forward, Virginia can be a threat for a double-bye. While Amanze, Levy, Clark and Smith have been erratic from a scoring perspective, Johnson is absolutely capable of taking over in their absence. This team can shoot the three, but unlike the men, when the threes aren’t falling, the women do have the Plan B of pounding the ball into the post. The team rebounds well, blocks a ton of shots and defends the three as well as anyone in the ACC. Clark closed out last season with eight consecutive double-digit scoring games. If she can regain that consistency and Smith starts hunting her shot, this could be the best Virginia team in 15 years.

Up Next: The ACC schedule has been quite forgiving to Virginia, offering them a gentle glide into stiffer competition: Boston College away (much diminished from last year,) SMU and Clemson at home, and then away to another diminished team in FSU. Virginia travels now to another much-diminished team in Georgia Tech, who lost their coach and their top four players to the portal. The game is Thursday, January 8th at 7:00pm and will stream on ACC Network Extra.