Cavaliers Now

The Plus/Minus: Virginia Knocks Off No. 5 Virginia Tech!

A snarling Virginia defense met Virginia Tech from the opening tip as the Cavaliers withstood a career night from Georgia Amoore to defeat the Hokies 80-75

Val Prochaska

Virginia women's basketball ended the regular season with a bang in front of a record crowd at John Paul Jones Arena, taking down No. 5 Virginia Tech 80-75 on Sunday night in the Commonwealth Clash. Val has the Plus/Minus to break down the Cavaliers' epic victory over their in-state rivals. 

Plus

To say that “a win is a win is a win” does not do justice to the magnitude of this win. A Virginia program record attendance of 11,975 was on hand to witness Senior Night. There were many Virginia Tech fans in attendance – it is only 145 miles that separates the two campuses – and every player treated this as the rivalry game it was. Coach Agugua-Hamilton has brought this program back, and be frank, these women are playing with more heart and passion than the men. Seriously, did you see the men’s game versus Duke?

Plus

Virginia’s defensive intensity was off the charts from the get-go as the Cavs forced six first-quarter turnovers (11 for the half) and on two consecutive Tech possessions won tied balls off Liz Kitley. Furthermore, Virginia forced Tech’s Olivia Summiel into taking a trio of threes. Look, I love Summiel. She is the ultimate glue player and she was about the best coach Kenny Brooks could get to replace the departed Taylor Soule, but when Summiel is jacking threes, you’re winning the battles. Kymora Johnson, Alexia Smith and Paris Clark took turns guarding Georgia Amoore and she responded with a rather pedestrian 3/8 halftime line for just 10 points.

Plus

Kaydan Lawson, presumably starting because it was Senior Night, responded to her first start of the season with her best game of the season. Lawson’s box score won’t do her game justice since she only scored two points, but she had five rebounds, including two huge offensive boards, and the steal of the game. Amoore had hit a three to bring Tech to within a point, 71-70. Cam Taylor lost the ball in the post when Amoore swiped it. She lives for these moments and she was off to the races. Except that Lawson swiped the ball right back. Lawson has dropped to the end of the bench of late, averaging seven minutes over the last nine games. Kaydan got 20 minutes this game and had the third best box +/- for the game.

Minus

Injuries suck. Liz Kitley went down four minutes into the second half having given Tech their first lead since the game’s opening minute. Kitley never returned. Given that Yonta Vaughn has missed the last five games and that the Hoos were without Cam Taylor the last time Virginia played Tech, I cannot feel too sorry for the Hokies. But big games deserve the biggest players. Here’s the payoff for having had the best record in the ACC and securing the tournament double-bye. Hopefully Kitley will fully recover.

Plus

Jillian Brown’s resurgence from downtown continues as she went 2/3 from deep. 

In a back and forth game, both threes were the daggers that kept Tech at bay. Over the last five games, Brown is 9/14 from beyond the arc. She’s also shooting 85% from the line. She only has one hole in her game…

Minus

Taking it to the rim in transition. She, along with Paris Clark, are, to be brutally honest, bad on the break. Neither is particularly quick with the ball in their hands, so they don’t get separation, and neither has ever met a 1 v 2 that will make them pull up. They were a combined 0/5 in transition.

Plus

Kymora Johnson took over the fourth quarter for the Hoos. She was perfect – 3/3 from the floor with a three-pointer, and she canned both her free throws in answer to yet another Amoore three. Her biggest play? This steal and finish.

Johnson finished with 21 points, went 3/6 from deep and finished with a sparkling eight assists to zero turnovers. In any non-Hannah Hidalgo year, Johnson would be ACC Freshman of the Year.

Plus

Senior Night! What a night to shine. London Clarkson, one of the hardest workers on this team, battled Kitley every moment they shared the court. Clarkson had one of the two held balls with Kitley. She also had this baseline drive that gave Virginia the final lead.

Sam Brunelle, who it might be said is the harbinger of the Virginia renaissance (her transfer back to Charlottesville directly led to Johnson and Olivia McGhee coming to Virginia) similarly battled in the post. But with Virginia in danger of losing the game – both Clarkson and Lawson missed both their free throws – it was Brunelle who converted the last two free throws of the game to give Virginia the five-point margin.

Plus

The state of the women’s game. This was a wonderful game to watch. Kitley is really good, she’s the two-time ACC Player of the Year, but I’ve long thought Amoore was the best player in the ACC. Amoore proved me right on this night. She put up 39 points going eight of 15 from deep. She played all 40 minutes, and she was still the fastest player on the court when the final buzzer sounded. The game had 10 ties and 11 lead changes. A program record for attendance was set. There wasn’t an easy bucket given up all game.

Minus

After Smith, Johnson and Clark shut down Amoore in the first half, Coach Mox gave Clark the assignment for the entire second half. It was almost costly. Clark repeatedly lost Amoore. Repeatedly. And it wasn’t Amoore putting up absurd shots. Which she did, and she made them. And it wasn’t because she is faster than anyone else on the court, which she is. It’s that Clark didn’t understand, that with Kitley out, there was only player for Tech who could score. (Kitley had 20 points, Amoore had 39, while the rest of the team had 16.) It’s that Clark left Amoore to try and steal the ball from someone else or try to double up a different Hokie. That wasn’t her job. Her job was to stay with Amoore. And somehow Coach Mox left Clark on Amoore for eight minutes.

Plus

The Hoos went right at Kitley all game long. My disappointment with Clark’s defensive lapses notwithstanding, Clark set the tone. Paris is much better attacking the rim out of the half court than she is in transition. Maybe she’s more controlled. Maybe she can’t get up a full head of steam. This was the aggression that Clark brought to the offensive end all game long.

Plus

Virginia’s ceiling is the NCAA tournament. With this victory, Virginia now has a record of 4-8 versus ranked teams. In the ACC, only Tech and NC State have more such victories. As far as bracketology goes, the ACC has been predicted as getting nine invitations to the big dance. Virginia can get one of those slots and leap frog Miami, a team UVA beat and who has only won two games this year versus ranked teams.

Game Highlights

Next Up: The ACC field is set.

Source:  theACC.com

Virginia is the No. 11 seed and will play this Wednesday evening, March 6th, against No. 14 seed Wake Forest. Wake is pretty dire. Virginia should advance to Thursday’s game versus Florida State, a team they have already defeated.

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Published
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.