Women’s notebook: Cavaliers looking for 2-0 start tonight at JPJ against UMBC

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The Virginia women’s basketball team hosts UMBC on Thursday at 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena. The game is the second of three home contests for the Cavaliers in the opening week of the season.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

• The game will stream online on ACCNX through the ESPN app. It is available through participating TV providers that carry ACCN
• Live stats be available
• Links are posted on VirginiaSports.com

NOTING THE CAVALIERS

• The Cavaliers (1-0) opened the season with an 85-59 victory against George Washington on Monday. Virginia trailed by six with 9:18 left in the third quarter but outscored the Colonials 31-9 in the fourth
• UVA had five players finish the game in double figures, led by a 22-point game from senior forward Camryn Taylor
• Taylor had a double-double with 13 rebounds to go with the 22 points, matching her career-rebounding high
• It was Taylor’s third 20-point game of her Cavalier career, her second double-double and her second double-digit rebounding game
• Junior guard Kaydan Lawson scored a career-high 18 points
• The Cavaliers had 53 rebounds, their first time with 50 rebounds since the 2019-20 season when they had 50 rebounds at Old Dominion (11/24/19)
• Three of the Cavaliers’ newcomers made their debuts. Freshman Yonta Vaughn grabbed six rebounds while dishing out four assists. Fellow freshman Cady Pauley hit a three-pointer. Notre Dame transfer Sam Brunelle scored 10 points with five rebounds
• Amaka Agugua-Hamilton announced the signing of two top-50 recruits on Wednesday, Kymora Johnson and Olivia McGhee
• Johnson is a point guard and a five-star recruit who plays at St. Anne’s-Belfield, a private high school located a mile from John Paul Jones Arena. The 2022 Gatorade Virginia Player of the Year is the No. 24 recruit in the class
• McGhee is from Louisa County, approximately 40 miles from Grounds, but is playing her senior season at IMG Academy. The guard is the No. 45 recruit in the class
• With these signings and the transfer of Sam Brunelle from Notre Dame, the Cavaliers will have three players on next year’s roster who grew up within 50 miles of the University
• The recruiting class is ranked No. 13 by ESPN.com

SCOUTING UMBC

• UMBC (1-0) opened the season with a 79-77 win against NCAA III Gettysburg on Tuesday. Ashia McCalla hit the game-winning shot with nine seconds left
• Forward Kiara Bell scored 18 points with eight rebounds
• UMBC returns only three players from last year’s squad with 10 newcomers: three freshmen, two undergrad transfers and five graduate students
• UMBC was 3-23 last season with a 2-14 record in the America East
• Virginia is 3-0 all-time against UMBC. The last meeting was a 56-30 victory at John Paul Jones Arena on Dec. 28, 2016

ON THE HORIZON

• Virginia closes the current homestand by hosting Wake Forest on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the first game of conference play