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The Plus/Minus: Virginia Women's Basketball Overwhelms La Salle

Yonta Vaughn keyed a 26-point third quarter and Virginia cruised to a 76-47 win over visiting La Salle.

Val Prochaska

Virginia Athletic

Virginia women's basketball used a strong second half performance to power past La Salle 76-47 on Sunday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down what we saw from the Cavaliers in their third victory of the season

Plus

A win is a win is a win.  It’s early days as yet another out-manned foe comes to JPJ for what amounts to little more than an exhibition game.  The La Salle Explorers, coming off an 8-22 year last year, feature 13 new players to go with just two returning sophomores.  La Salle played a like a team that was at ground zero, team-wise.  The steady play of Virginia’s two point guards, Kymora Johnson and Yonta Vaughn, allowed the Cavaliers to grab the easy victory.

Plus

Virginia broke the game open with a 26-point third quarter.  La Salle was hanging around and went to the locker room at halftime down just 29-24.  Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton had given Vaughn her first start of the year, but in the third she moved her to lead guard which allowed Johnson to play off ball.  Johnson scored 10 of her game-high 20 points in the third frame alone, going 2/2 from deep and 2/2 from the pinstripe.  The team played cleaner ball: after committing 10 turnovers in the first half, the Cavaliers had just two in the third quarter.  With Vaughn assuming primary ball-handling responsibilities, Mo had greater freedom to leak out on the break, leading to the team’s best fast break on the night:

This was a great change of pace and mirrors what Notre Dame is doing with Olivia Miles and Hannah Hidalgo.

Plus

I think the long-term ceiling for these Cavaliers is how well Olivia McGhee develops over the next three years.  She is Virginia’s most athletic wing and she runs the floor better than anyone.  She’s a great free throw shooter and at 6’2” she offers a lot of size at the wing.  But she’s an inconsistent shooter and on defense she’ll often try to rely more on her athleticism than fundamentals.  In other words, she commits a lot of tacky fouls.  (She fouled out today.)  Today was one of her better outings as she had 14 points on 6/11 shooting, was perfect from the line, and had this steal and finish.

Minus

La Salle – tallest player 6’1” – pounded Virginia on the offensive boards early.  They had 10 in the opening quarter, but because of that height disparity, and the fact that they aren’t really good, they had zero second-chance points.  For the game Virginia would end up with a 46-45 rebounding margin.  Virginia has good size on the wing with McGhee and Breonna Hurd as well as more size down low with 6’4” Latasha Lattimore and 6‘7” Taylor Lauterbach, but it’s not translating to rebounds.  This team is going to struggle against ACC competition at this rate.

Plus

The ACC Network flashed a graphic showing how Breonna Hurd’s strong start mirrored that of Johnson’s last season.  Through three games, Hurd averaged 27.7 minutes and 14.0 points.  Johnson was at 26.7 and 14.7 respectively.  Hurd had a nice first half, leading the team in scoring with 8 points, chipping in four rebounds and having the highest box +/- for the half.  Hurd is physical; she can both initiate and play through contact.

Minus

Coach Mox kept Hurd pinned to the bench in the second half.  After getting 17 minutes in the first half, Hurd played just four minutes in the second, sitting out the entire fourth period.  She was shown, visibly upset, listening to Coach Mox on the sideline, but I didn’t see why she was pulled.

Read More: Matt's Five Takeaways

Minus

Paris Clark sat out for an unspecified injury.  Taylor Lauterbach only played one minute after sitting out the Radford game.  It doesn’t look like she’s ready for real minutes.

Plus

Latasha Lattimore had the kind of game she was brought here to provide, a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double.  She flipped the script with Hurd, having a much stronger second half than her first half.  Lattimore has a disturbing penchant to want to prove herself to be a wing player.  Twice in the first half she grabbed rebounds and tried to take the ball coast-to-coast.  She’s displayed this tendency all season long.  It doesn’t work well.  In this game she was stripped from behind on her first break and on the second she clattered into a stationary defender for a charge.  She was better in the second half, holding the ball up twice and a third drawing a foul.  But someone needs to teach Lattimore how to throw an outlet pass, stat.  I don’t think I’ve seen one from her through four games.

Plus

I really like Edessa Noyan.  She’s going to be this team’s glue guy.  She’s never going to stuff the stat sheet, she won’t ever lead the team in scoring, but my two favorite plays on the night came courtesy of her.

Next Up:  The women host Alabama State on Wednesday, November 20th.  Game time is 7:00pm and the game is on ACC Network Extra.

More UVA Women's Basketball News & Content

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Val Prochaska
VAL PROCHASKA

Val graduated from the University of Virginia in the last millennium, back when writing one's senior thesis by hand was still a thing. He is a lifelong fan of the ACC, having chosen the Tobacco Road conference ahead of the Big East. Again, when that was still a thing. Val has covered Virginia men's basketball for seven years, first with HoosPlace and then with StreakingTheLawn, before joining us here at Virginia Cavaliers on SI in August of 2023, continuing to cover UVA men's basketball and also writing about women's soccer and women's basketball.