Cavaliers Now

UVA Women's Hoops Begins Summer Practice, Looks to Build Towards Exciting Year 2

After a promising first season under Coach Mox, the UVA women's basketball team has returned to practice to build towards next season

Kathleen Boyce

Virginia Athletics

It’s been a couple of weeks since the Virginia women’s basketball team moved back to Charlottesville and started summer workouts, and the team is ready to build off of a great start to Coach Mox’s tenure.

After starting off 12-0 last year, the Cavaliers struggled to a 4-14 record in ACC play. The team lost both sparkplug Mir McLean and leader Sam Brunelle to season-ending injuries during the conference schedule and faced additional injuries and roster depletion throughout the season. By the team’s final game, there were only six players suited up, causing Coach Mox to turn down a bid to the NIT and end her team’s campaign at a 15-15 overall record. 

Virginia fans had a glimpse of a wildly successful season before injuries during the most difficult stretch of the schedule derailed the team’s later success, but the Cavaliers made a big impression on the UVA community in year 1 under Coach Mox. Average attendance more than doubled from 1,643 fans per game in 2021-2022 to just under 3,500 this season. The excitement is palpable, and the team looks poised for even more improvement this season.

In late June, current players helped the new players move in, and then practice quickly began. Starting on Monday, the team welcomed young campers for Coach Mox’s basketball camp. The team motto “Grind Now. Shine Later” is a hashtag online, written on shirts, and spoken in videos. It’s clear the team has a mission, and is coming together to make that happen. 

Looking at the returning players as well as the newcomers, there is a lot to be excited about. Of the 14 players, eight were with the team last year and six are joining, including three freshmen and three transfers.

To start, Virginia returns its three leading scorers in Camryn Taylor, Mir McLean, and Sam Brunelle. At some points in the season, Camryn Taylor was a one-woman wrecking crew when her teammates needed her, but this year should have much more balanced scoring with more offensive threats healthy. McLean was a double-double machine before her injury and Brunelle provided much-needed lights-out shooting, making 40% of her three-point attempts. 

Rounding out the returners, Virginia has guards Yonta Vaughn, Alexia Smith, Cady Pauley, and Kaydan Lawson along with forward London Clarkson. All of these players earned significant playing time in the season, especially down the stretch when other players were injured, so this is a battle-tested team.

For the newcomers, there are three freshmen: Kymora Johnson, Olivia McGhee, and Edessa Noyan.

Kymora Johnson comes from Saint Anne’s-Belfield, just down the road from UVA, and success in Charlottesville is not a new concept for her. Johnson earned back-to-back Gatorade Player of the Year awards for Virginia, made it to the McDonald’s All American game, and even won the three-point contest there. She is the nation’s No. 24 overall recruit according to the ESPNW rankings. 

Olivia McGhee is also a Virginia native who committed to UVA one year ago after receiving over 40 offers from other schools. Despite many options, she went with the hometown favorite with a new coach, and also the first school to give her an offer. McGhee is the No. 45 recruit in the nation, and her 6’2 frame at the guard position makes her a dangerous matchup.

Edessa Noyan was a late addition to the incoming class, as she switched her commitment from San Francisco to Virginia in April. Noyan hails from Sweden, where she has excelled on the Junior National Team and on competitive club teams there.

In addition, Coach Mox was active in the transfer portal in the offseason. She picked up three transfers in Jillian Brown, Paris Clark, and Taylor Lauterbach.

Jillian Brown played two seasons at Northwestern, starting 25 games her freshman year and nine her sophomore year. Paris Clark is a former McDonald’s All American who is transferring after her freshman year at Arizona. Both guards will be in the mix for minutes as they learn the new system at Virginia. Finally, Taylor Lauterbach provides a key missing feature from last year’s team: height. The 6’7 center is a graduate student after playing three seasons at Kansas State and will have an immediate impact for a team whose biggest player last season stood at 6'2. 

Combining the new faces with the returning ones offers a lot of hope for Cavalier basketball fans, as Coach Mox and her staff look to get the team ready for what should be an exciting 2023-2024 Virginia women's basketball season. 

To stay up to date on all Virginia Cavaliers sports news, follow CavaliersNow on social media:

Facebook: @CavaliersNow
Twitter: @CavaliersNowFN

Published
Kathleen Boyce
KATHLEEN BOYCE

Kathleen Boyce is a contributing author for Cavaliers Now, covering primarily UVA volleyball, women's basketball, and softball. Kathleen is currently a fourth-year student at the University of Virginia.

Home/All Sports