Johnson named ACC’s Rookie of the Week for second time this season

Posted on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024, 2:00 pm

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Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Photo: UVA Athletics

Virginia guard Kymora Johnson has been named ACC Rookie of the Week for games played Feb. 19-25, the conference office announced Monday.

The announcement marks the second time this season Johnson has garnered ACC Rookie-of-the-Week honors. Earlier this year, the Charlottesville native became UVA’s first player to earn the award since 2019 after she scored a career-high 35 points in the Cavaliers’ 91-87 road triumph over then-No. 15 Florida State.

With an average of 19.5 points in UVA’s pair of wins over Miami and then-No. 20 Louisville, Johnson led all ACC freshmen in scoring this past week. She also averaged 5.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game.

Against the Hurricanes, she finished with 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting, including 5 of 9 from 3-point range. Johnson has now scored at least 20 points in five of UVA’s last eight games.

Johnson was also instrumental in snapping Louisville’s 56-game home win streak over unranked ACC opponents. She finished with 18 points, eight of which came in the fourth quarter.

Virginia trailed by nine points with 8:50 to play, but Johnson and the Cavaliers successfully mounted a comeback. Her fifth 3-pointer of the game broke a 61-61 tied score with under 4:00 remaining, after which Virginia led the rest of the way en route to its third win over a ranked opponent this season, a first since 2008-09.