The Plus/Minus: Virginia Women's Basketball Defeats William & Mary 80-51

Virginia women's basketball defeated William & Mary 80-51 on Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena, improving to 3-0 on the season. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down what we saw from Coach Mox's Cavaliers in their win over the Tribe.

Plus

A win is a win is a win. Virginia hosted a feisty William & Mary team that should contend in the Coastal Athletic Association this year. Virginia had too much depth, too much size for the Tribe and won going away.

Plus

Sam Brunelle. She’s back. She didn’t start but she made an immediate impact, scoring at the rim following a nifty spin move on the baseline just 90 seconds after checking in. Brunelle scored 12 points in 13 minutes as she was allowed to get herself acclimated after missing the first two weeks of the season. Brunelle was 2/4 from deep, including this one as time was running down approaching halftime.

🏀🔥 Nothing but net for Sam Brunelle in her season debut!

She's got 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting 💯 pic.twitter.com/evNTdCzFb0
— Virginia Women's Basketball (@UVAWomensHoops) November 16, 2023

She hunted this shot, she knew she wanted it. She really should have let the clock run down some more and not allow William & Mary to run an unhurried play, but she was in form and she knew it would go in. So did I. The ball looked great even as it left her fingertips.

Plus

Jillian Brown continues to stuff the stat sheet, this time leading the team in scoring with 17 points and a team-high seven rebounds. The first two games she let fly from deep, not very effectively I might add, but on this night she was more judicious, going 1/2 from behind the arc. Her free throws are gorgeous. Three games and she’s yet to miss.

Plus

Free throw shooting continues to be a strength to the extent that tonight’s 16/20 performance (80%) was a step down.

Negative

Neither team covered themselves in glory shooting wise. Virginia shot 41% overall and 27% from deep, while William & Mary was worse, shooting 27% and 16% respectively. Cady Pauley, particular, had a rough night. In nine minutes, she missed all four three-pointers. She’s in a race against time to prove she deserves to be in the rotation as Kaydan Lawson and Paris Clark should be returning soon, and they occupy the same space, real-estate wise, as does Pauley.

Positive

It bodes well for the Hoos that the team had a comfortable win even with Kymora Johnson having an off night. She continues to push the ball as Coach Agugua-Hamilton wants, and when you can throw up shots like this, and sink them, you’re going to win.

Kymora Johnson goes coast-to-coast with a tough finish in transition 💪😤#GoHoos🔸⚔️🔹 #GNSL pic.twitter.com/a9STg5dlVQ
— Virginia Women's Basketball (@UVAWomensHoops) November 16, 2023

Positive

It bodes well for the Hoos that the team had a comfortable win even with Camryn Taylor having an off night. Taylor missed her first seven shots on the night, but as she so often does, she exploded to open the fourth quarter. She put up nine points in two and a half minutes and broke open a game that had still been close in the middle of third quarter. By the time Taylor was done, Virginia held a 64-43 lead with seven minutes left to play.

Plus

Mir McLean is a bench mob unto herself. She is the most engaged, enthusiastic player on the bench. It’s fun to see her reactions.

Minus

Virginia is bigger and better than William & Mary, but the Tribe was able to get to the rim any time they wanted, especially in the first half. Every shot was contested, and W&M had an awful night from the floor, but better teams will be able to punish the Cavaliers on the perimeter.

Positive

Edessa Noyan is very comfortable in the high block and she’s a fine passer. In 14 minutes, she had a pair of nice assists. Or twice as many as, Taylor, Brunelle and London Clarkson registered in 55 minutes.

Positive

Through three games, Virginia has been a fourth quarter team, outscoring UMES, Campbell and now William & Mary by a combined 76-31. In each game, the Cavs' highest scoring quarter has been the fourth. There’s two ways to look at this. 1) Virginia’s superior depth has simply worn down the opposition or 2) Virginia has played a collection of creampuffs. In any event, Virginia will get their first test of the season on Sunday as they play No. 25 Oklahoma. Oklahoma has averaged 92 points per game thus far, and they will be equally rested as they played this night as well.

Matt's Take

Matt's got coach and player reaction, as well as an in-depth game report here.

Next Up: Oklahoma on Sunday the 26th. Game time is 2pm and the game will be on the ACC Network.

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