The Plus/Minus: Virginia Women’s Basketball Overwhelms La Salle
Virginia women's basketball improved to 6-2 on the season with a 94-73 victory at La Salle on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down what we saw from the Cavaliers in their first true road game of the season.
Plus
A win is a win is a win. Kymora Johnson led a balanced attack as she was perfect from the floor: 6/6 from the field, 1/1 from deep, and 2/2 from the charity stripe. There are 13 active players on the team, and all saw game action. Six scored in double figures, 12 of them scored, 10 grabbed a rebound, and nine recorded at least one assist. Everybody contributed.
Minus
Injuries suck. Virginia began the season with two (maybe 3) starters on the bench, as well as last year’s first-off-the-bench reserve. Last year the team dressed out just seven players twice and six players once. We know what it is to be short-handed. Well, La Salle was without two starters, one of whom is their second-leading scorer, and their leading rebounder. It’s hard to compete when you are that short-handed, but freshman bigs Amber Bullard and Hailey Chiles played hard against Virginia’s trio of fifth-year bigs Camryn Taylor, London Clarkson and Sam Brunelle.
Plus
Virginia won this game at the line going 23/25. The team is shooting 83% and is the #5 team in the country. Cam Taylor couldn’t buy a bucket today. Literally. She was 0/5 from the floor, but she still scored 10 points on a perfect 10/10 performance from the line. For the season, she’s now shooting 94% on 54 attempts. Only two of the 14 players ahead of Taylor have even taken 40 free throws. Taylor is establishing herself as one of the very best free throw shooters in the country.
Plus
Paris Clark had eight of Virginia’s first 17 points. She’s the most effective scorer in transition on the team. She, and Jillian Brown, are mostly playing the 3 for Coach Agugua-Hamilton. I wonder if they will move to the off-guard spot when Mir McLean returns.
Minus
Edessa Noyan will be the sole returning big next year as Taylor, Clarkson, Brunelle and Taylor Lauterbach will all be gone. La Salle was pesky and refused to go away, and they put together a couple of nifty runs; but really, all those runs did was turn 24-point deficits into 13-point deficits. This game was never in doubt. And yet Noyan only got four minutes of playing time. Noyan is not a stiff. She’s not a project. Noyan is just a freshman with potential who needs the experience and I would think that she get more time in a 94-point win against overmatched competition.
Plus
Johnson had three quick buckets off of in-bounds plays. I don’t think she’s as fast dribbling the ball as Paris Clark or Alexia Smith, but her first-step explosion is better. Mo is at her best off of set plays.
Even defensive ones.
Plus
Now that Coach Mox has just about her full complement of players, she’s been toying with full-court pressure the past two games. Full-court pressure is a great hole card.
See Also: Matt's got the full game report.
Minus
I’m not sure that games like this prepare a team for the rigors of ACC play. La Salle was a mid-table mid-major last season. They played like it. And the next game up for Virginia is against Rider, a team that La Salle has already beaten this season.
Minus
Three point shooting. Coach Mox wants this team to run. I think too many fast breaks lead to ill-advised 1 v 2 finishes as the rim, but looking at how poor the team is from deep, pushing to the rim at all cost may be the best solution.
This is the 3-point shot selection.
Virginia's three-point shot chart vs. La Salle
Val Prochaska/CavaliersNow
Virginia took a season-high five corner threes, missing all five of them. Sigh. But that is too many shots from above the break for a team shooting now 26% from deep. (That was 5/21 for today, and on the season, the team is #292 out of 360 NCAA Division I schools.)
So, shoot the threes that maximize player potential. It feels to me that Cady Pauley is a better rhythm three-point shooter than a pure catch and shoot specialist. So here's how Yonta Vaughn got Pauley on the score sheet.
Next Up: The Hoos return to JPJ on Wednesday, December 6th to host Rider. Game time is 7pm and the game will be available on ACC Network Extra.
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