Recapping Coach Mox's First UVA Women's Basketball Recruiting Class

Amaka Agugua-Hamilton quickly went to work to bring in four talented players to supplement the roster in her first season at Virginia

Matt Newton | Jun 1, 2022

Ultimately, coaches are judged by wins and losses, banners hung, and sustained success. Six months still remain before Amaka Agugua-Hamilton will have her first chance to start to mold that legacy as she begins her tenure as head coach of the Virginia women's basketball program.

Yet, in the two and a half months that have elapsed since Coach Mox was named head coach of the Cavaliers, she has checked nearly every box possible as she takes the reins of a major conference basketball program for the first time.

Coach Mox took no time at all to settle down in Charlottesville and immediately hit the recruiting trail, looking to secure some much-needed reinforcements for the UVA roster. In this task, Agugua-Hamilton faced an uphill battle as she entered the recruiting cycle late in the process and scrambled to string together a 2022 recruiting class for Virginia.

Coach Mox met that challenge head-on and knocked it out of the park.

On April 9th, Notre Dame transfer Samantha Brunelle announced her commitment to Virginia. Brunelle, who attended William Monroe High School in Stanardsville, just down the road from Charlottesville, was the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2019 and was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team in 2020 after averaging 13.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in her first season in South Bend. After a couple of seasons where injuries limited Brunelle's playing time, she entered the transfer portal and Agugua-Hamilton was able to convince the Virginia native to return home and use her final two years of eligibility playing for the Cavaliers.

Four days later, Coach Mox struck again, this time securing a commitment from the high school class of 2022. Cady Pauley, who had originally committed to play for Agugua-Hamilton at Missouri State, announced her commitment to UVA on April 13th. Pauley was one of the top-scoring high school players in the country this season, averaging 33 points per game. She finished her high school career with 3,074 points, eighth on the all-time scoring list in Missouri girls' basketball history.

Less than two weeks later, the Cavaliers signed Yonta Vaughn, a star point guard out of Bishop McNamara High School in Maryland. ESPN ranked Vaughn as the No. 15 point guard in the country and the No. 72 overall player in the class of 2022.

Finally, on April 28th, Minnesota guard Alexia Smith transferred to Virginia, rounding out an impressive recruiting class for Coach Mox, especially given the circumstances. Smith appeared in 52 total games over the last two seasons for the Golden Gophers, including 12 starts in her freshman season. Originally rated a five-star prospect coming out of high school in Columbus, Ohio, Smith was the No. 15-ranked guard in the class of 2020 and led her high school team to two state championships.

The additions of Brunelle, Pauley, Vaughn, and Smith will go a long way towards supplementing the depth, talent, and experience on the UVA roster in year one of the Amaka Agugua-Hamilton era of Virginia women's basketball. The Cavaliers are set to return five players with several games of starting experience from last season: Carole Miller, London Clarkson, Camryn Taylor, Mir McLean, and Taylor Valladay, as well as role players Kaydan Lawson and McKenna Dale, who both appeared in nearly every game in the 2021-2022 season. McLean, a mid-season transfer from UConn, was the 25th-ranked recruit in her class and a McDonald's All-American in 2020. If Agugua-Hamilton can maximize her potential, McLean could be a star in the making for the Cavaliers.

While we're still a ways away from being able to draw any serious conclusions about the hiring of Coach Mox, we are certainly able to say: so far so good.

For the first time in several years, there is palpable and justifiable excitement surrounding the Virginia women's basketball program.

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