There’s nothing more Tabitha Amanze can do. The senior forward has just fouled out with 3:57 left in overtime, her upset-minded No. 10-seed Virginia Cavaliers tied with No. 2 Iowa at 59-59. Now, Amanze waits to see if she is retroactively impacting the game. The officials review a potential upgrade to the play that caused her to exit the court. As she made contact with Hannah Stuelke, the Iowa senior’s elbow swung into Amanze’s nose.
Amanze’s chest heaves as she breathes out of her mouth, a white tissue plugging one of her nostrils. It soaks up bright red blood, a visual representation of the fight Virginia has put up to get here. Eight days ago, 5-foot-7 junior guard Kymora Johnson had tears in her eyes, waiting to hear her team called on Selection Sunday. Finally, “Virginia” popped up on the TV screen as one of the last four teams into March Madness. Days later the Cavaliers defeated Arizona State in a First Four matchup. Then, they topped Georgia 82-73 in overtime, marking the second time a First Four squad advanced out of the first round.
And now, the Cavaliers wait. The review process lets them finally catch their breath in the midst of a chaotic tournament run. The call goes their way, allowing the Cavaliers to force yet another overtime at Carver Hawkeye Arena.
This time, Virginia doesn’t leave the game up to officiating decisions. Instead, the Cavaliers outscore Iowa 18-10 in the second overtime frame, stunning the home fans and securing a Sweet Sixteen appearance – their first since 2000.
“Just coming into March, we’re a confident team, and I think we believe in all the work that we’ve put in,” Johnson says. “Not a lot of people have. They’ve written us off. We came into March trying to show what Virginia is about.”
Virginia is about players like Johnson, who was a ball girl for the Cavaliers growing up. Like Paris Clark, Sa’Myah Smith and Caitlin Weimar, who had stops at other schools before finding the right fit in Charlottesville. Like fifth-year guard Romi Levy, playing her final season of college basketball. And like coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, who, despite little success at Virginia in recent years, has managed to bring them all together.
Johnson is the crowning jewel of Agugua-Hamilton’s efforts. When she took over as coach in March 2022, Johnson became priority No. 1. She’d grown up watching Virginia with her mom. But by 2022, UVA was coming off four straight losing seasons, not having sniffed the NCAA Tournament since 2018. Johnson, meanwhile, was a McDonald’s All-American and a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year in Virginia. The tie she once felt to the program had grown thin, but Agugua-Hamilton was determined.
“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 it up,” Johnson says. “As soon as the first conversation happened, I knew this was where I was destined to be. I followed my heart and it led me to Virginia.”
Johnson, who grew up just five minutes from Virginia’s campus, has led the Cavaliers in scoring in each of her team’s three tournament games, totaling 17 against Arizona State, 28 against Georgia and 28 against Iowa, with 11 coming in the second overtime. She played all 50 minutes against the Hawkeyes.
“I’m hungry and tired,” she says after the win. “But blessed and happy to be able to get the dub.”
Clark, who played 42 minutes, got Virginia to extra time, hitting back-to-back three-pointers and a pullup jumper in the fourth quarter, helping her team to erase a nine-point deficit.
“That’s what they were playing with,” Agugua-Hamilton says. “They were just fighting for one more. (Iowa) started to (create a) gap it a little bit, and Paris was like, ‘No, not ready to be done,’ and she stepped up.”
Virginia hasn’t been in the Sweet Sixteen since 2000, years before the players on this roster were born. But they know the history. Agugua-Hamilton makes sure of it.
Dawn Staley played at Virginia. So did Tami Reiss, Wendy Palmer and Monica Wright. The program those legends built is being revitalized And now, the current Cavaliers no longer just know Virginia women’s basketball history. They’re part of it.
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