Virginia Cavaliers Reach Sweet 16 in Historic March Madness Run
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Kymora Johnson scored 28 points as 10th-seeded Virginia became the first First Four team to reach the regional semifinals after an 83-75 double-overtime win over No. 2 seed Iowa on Monday in a women’s NCAA tournament second-round game.
The Cavaliers (22-11) have won three games in five days, defeating Arizona State 57-55 in last Thursday’s First Four game, followed by an 82-73 overtime win over Georgia in Saturday’s first-round game, and then upsetting the Hawkeyes (27-7), who were playing in front of a sellout home crowd of 14,332.
Resilient Performance Fuels Virginia’s Upset
“We were just so resilient in this game,” Virginia coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “Iowa is a really good team. They’re a 2-seed for a reason. No matter what they threw at us, we just did not get rattled. We just believed that we were going to win this game before it even started. Every time they punched, we punched back, stayed poised.”
It’s the first time Virginia has advanced to the second weekend of the tournament since 2000. It’s as well the first time a 10-seed has reached the Sweet 16 since Creighton did it in 2022. The Bluejays also beat Iowa in the second round that year to advance.
Building a Winning Culture at Virginia
“We had to do a lot of rebuilding when we got here in all facets of the program, even just rebuilding the community, the energy,” said Agugua-Hamilton, in her fourth season as the Cavaliers’ coach. “But resources, players, culture, everything. I knew it was going to be a large task, and it was no small feat. But at the same time, I knew we were going to get it done.”
“Just coming into March,” Johnson said, “we’re a confident team, and I think we believe in all the work that we’ve put in. Not a lot of people have. They’ve written us off. We came into March trying to indicate what Virginia is about.”
Game Details and Key Moments
Iowa had chances to win the game in regulation and at the complete of the first overtime. Chazadi Wright‘s turnaround jumper with one second left in regulation missed, then the Hawkeyes missed two shots at the end of the first overtime, a 3-pointer by Taylor Stremlow and a putback attempt by Ava Heiden.
“They made some big plays,” Iowa coach Jan Jensen said of the Cavaliers. “When you win in March, you make big plays.”
Johnson had 14 of her points in the two overtimes, playing all 50 minutes.
“Hungry and tired,” Johnson said when asked how she felt. “But blessed and happy to be able to get the dub and be able to play 50 minutes.”
Paris Clark had 20 points for the Cavaliers. Romi Levy had 13 points. Caitlin Weimar had 12.
Heiden led Iowa with 26 points. Wright had 21 points. Hannah Stuelke had 15 points and 19 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season.
Virginia led 28-23 at halftime, shooting 39.3% from the field although Iowa struggled with 1-of-12 shooting from three-point range.
Local Hero Leads the Way
Johnson, a junior, grew up 2 miles from Virginia’s campus in Charlottesville. It took some convincing to get her to play for the Cavaliers.
“It took probably two months, my first two months there to even get her to come and talk to us,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “I literally passed her house on the way home every day. Once she did and once we clicked, we knew we had a special kid.”
“When she first called me, I’m going to be honest, I was not coming to Virginia, but I gave it a couple rings and finally picked up,” Johnson said. “As soon as the first conversation happened, I knew this was where I destined to be. I followed my heart and it led me to Virginia.”
Johnson led the Cavaliers in scoring at 19.3 points per game this season.
Looking Ahead
Virginia will move on to the Sacramento Regional semifinals, where they will play third seed TCU.
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