UVA Women's Basketball: Projecting the Starting Five & Rotations

Luke Lamberson | Oct 31, 2024

Virginia Athletic

With only a few days until the UVA Women’s Basketball season debut, let's predict this year's Wahoos rotation. With key players like Cam Taylor and Sam Brunelle gone, newcomers will need to step up if they want to break through and make a run in March.

With 40 minute games and five players, Head Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton will need to fill 200 minutes per game. Coach Mox is known for her deep rotations, frequently rotating up to 11 players in ACC matchups. This season, those minutes will be spread among seven newcomers and seven returners.

Returners

Seven players return from last year’s squad, led by Kymora Johnson and Paris Clark, who both averaged over 30 minutes in the season’s final five games. Jillian Brown contributed 17 minutes per game last season, but will unfortunately miss the entire year due to an ACL injury suffered in May. This leaves Yonta Vaughn and Olivia McGhee as the remaining backcourt contributors. We can expect that both will play more consistent roles this season. In the front court, Edessa Noyan is poised for a breakout year and Taylor Lauterbach will look to take a step forward as well. Cumulatively, these women represent 112 total returning minutes.

Departures

The Hoos need to replace 88 minutes from last season, with 75 previously taken by Cam Taylor, London Clarkson, Sam Brunelle, and Alexia Smith. Taylor’s 22 mpg, in particular, will be challenging to fill, as her late-game foul trouble often impacted outcomes. Cady Pauley (5 mpg) and Kaydan Lawson (8 mpg) will also not be on the sidelines this year. Additionally, Mir McLean’s transfer to Maryland leaves the Hoos with a very thin group of front court returners.

Newcomers

To fill these minutes, the coaching staff added four transfers, including three who stand 6'4 or taller. Latasha Lattimore will bring athleticism to Mox’s offense, while RyLee Grays (6'4) and Hawa Doumbouya (6'7) add much-needed size in the paint; although, Coach Mox confirmed that Doumbouya will redshirt this season. Breona Hurd, a highly-touted first year, rounds out the front-court. Freshmen Kamryn Kitchen and Payton Dunbar reclassified to the 2024 group, but both seem to anticipate a redshirt season. Lastly, Casey Valenti-Paea, a transfer from Long Beach State, will provide key depth at the guard position.

With three anticipated redshirts (one confirmed) and one season ending injury, the remaining 10 rostered players can all expect to be featured in Mox’s rotation to some extent. Without further ado, let’s predict the starting lineup. I’m going to assume that players like Paris Clark, who were out for the Blue-White Scrimmage, are back to full health for these projections.

Kymora Johnson - 33 MPG
Paris Clark - 31 MPG
Yonta Vaughn - 20 MPG
Edessa Noyan - 23 MPG
Latasha Lattimore - 25 MPG

Mo Johnson’s impressive freshman season deserved more praise; with a year in the system, fans can expect even better numbers this season. Paris Clark got off to a slow start last season, but came alive in ACC play, playing up to 37 minutes against Louisville last season. Johnson and Clark joined Coach Mox at ACC Media Day and look destined to be the leaders of the team. I anticipate the small forward position to rotate throughout the season, but ultimately expect Yonta Vaughn to take the starting role. Readers may be surprised to not see Olivia McGhee on this list, but in the last few games of the season, Coach Mox leaned on Vaughn’s experience. Additionally, when asked at ACC media day about a dark horse player, Mo Johnson gave a shout out to Vaughn, saying “I think [she] will really open people’s eyes this year.” That’s enough for me to give her the nod, but expect both to play key roles this season.

The forward and center positions are going to be critical for this team. By all accounts, Edessa Noyan has taken a big leap in the offseason, evidenced by her 11 point output in the Blue-White scrimmage. We can expect a big step forward for her in an important role. Lastly, I predict that Latasha Lattimore will step into the Center position. Readers may remember her solid 10-point, nine-rebound performance in JPJ last season as a visitor. We hopefully will see more of these outputs this season. Depending on matchups, we may see Mox go with a larger lineup and insert Lauterbach, but I expect these to be the most common five.

It is worth noting that 10 (!) different players started at least a game last season and nine started at least three. We certainly can expect Coach Mox to tinker with these lineups all season long and we may not see a regular starting lineup solidified until February or March. With that said, let’s review other key contributors.

Olivia McGhee - 20 MPG
Breona Hurd - 15 MPG
Taylor Lauterbach - 13 MPG
RyLee Grays - 10 MPG
Casey Valenti-Paea - 10 MPG

This list includes a lot of newcomers, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw one or more of them crack the starting lineup at times. Olivia McGhee showed incredible flashes last year, but fell almost entirely out of the rotation by the end of last season. I expect that McGhee will hold up her end of the “Mo and O Show” and find more consistency in her sophomore season. Paris Clark mentioned Breona Hurd as her dark horse player this season, so don’t be surprised if she brings a first-year spark this year.

Next Monday (November 4th), we’ll see the Hoos in action for the first time against American at 7pm on ACC Network Extra. Will these predictions hold up? Only one way to find out.

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