UVA women’s basketball beats GW 85-59 in coach “Mox” UVa debut

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - The UVa women’s basketball team pulled away from GW in the second half to give coach Amaka Aguga-Hamilton a win in her UVa debut.

Senior Camryn Taylor led Virginia with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Kaydan Lawson had 18 and Greene County’s Sam Brunelle had seven of her 10 points in the second half in her UVa debut.

Brunelle talked about that second half run after the game, “I said in the first timeout we had that they are clearly getting tired and their shook right now and we need to put our foot on the gas and extend the lead. They were getting warn down and that speaks to us how hard we’ve been working.”

The Cavaliers trailed 34-30 at the half and by six points early in the third quarter but outscored the Colonials 55-25 in the second half.

After the game UVa coach “Mox” said, “I’m just proud of our group. I think especially in the second half, we came together, played together, really dialed into the game plan and had each other’s back. [We] put a little bit more energy and effort into what we were doing, and we were able to turn the game around and create a big gap. So, I’m happy about how we played in the second half. [In the] first half we had to weather the storm, there was some adversity, but I mean, it’s [the] first game, there’s first game jitters and we just had to get a rhythm and I’m happy we did.”

CAVALIER NOTES

Taylor Valladay finished the game with 12 points and four assists. Sam Brunelle and Carole Miller both had 10 points
Virginia shot 44.1 percent (30-of-68) while George Washington was 22-of-69 (31.9 percent)
The Cavaliers were 16-of-21 (76.2 percent) from the free throw line while GW was 9-of-11 (81.8 percent)
Virginia held a 53-36 advantage in rebounding
Nine players were in uniform for the game for UVA. All nine scored and all nine had at least one assist
Kaydan Lawson’s previous career high was a 14-point performance at Boston College last year (2/3/22)
Camryn Taylor matched her career-high rebounds. She also had 13 while playing for Marquette in a game against UConn on 3/8/21. Her 13 rebounds was the most she has had at UVA
Yonta Vaughn and Cady Pauley both made their collegiate debuts. Vaughn played 18 minutes, grabbing six rebounds with four assists. Pauley played 10 minutes, hitting a three-pointer
This was Virginia’s first time scoring 80 or more points in a game since an 86-point game at Virginia Tech on Feb. 23, 2020
It was the first time UVA had five players in double figures since the NCAA Tournament win against Cal on March 16, 2018

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