Virginia embraces Cinderella role after double-overtime upset in women’s NCAA Tournament

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Ice chunks littered the floor and water soaked the black leather seats followinga celebration inside Virginia’s designated meeting area at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Cavaliers coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton walked through room pulling her luggage, stopped and was handed a bright orange Wilson basketball.

“Is this the game ball?” she asked one of her staff members. “Yes, do you want me to pack it?” the staffer asked. Agugua-Hamilton held it, stared for a few seconds, then quietly agreed.  The staff member took away the ball and said, “Sweet!”

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For the Cavaliers, “sweet” was the appropriate response at the perfect time. They’re headed to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000 with an 83-75 double overtime win at Iowa on Monday afternoon. In the process, Virginia became this tournament’s Cinderella story and the first women’s basketball team to advance out of the First Four to the Sweet 16.

In just its second NCAA tournament trip in 16 years, 10th-seeded Virginia won three postseason games, all in resilient fashion. The Cavaliers edged Arizona State 57-55 in a First Four matchup on Thursday and followed it with an 82-73 overtime win against seventh-seeded Georgia on Saturday. Facing second-seeded Iowa was the most difficult test for multiple reasons. For one, Virginia (22-11) traveled to Iowa nearly a week ago and dealt with extreme cold early in their stay, oppressive heat in the middle and then back to normal, chilly mid-March weather for its final game. Iowa has enjoyed more than 50 consecutive sellouts and the arena was slam-packed with black-and-gold supporters. In addition, the Hawkeyes (27-7) finished No. 2 in the Big Ten and had throttled fellow No. 2 seed Michigan twice among other NCAA Tournament teams.

But Virginia was undeterred by the environment or its opponent. It was built for toughness and perseverance. Agugua-Hamilton moved to her home state in 2022 to take over a program barely recognizable from its roots with Dawn Staley running the point or coach Debbie Ryan leading the Cavaliers to ACC championships. To move the program forward upon her 2022 arrival, Agugua-Hamilton targeted Charlottesville phenom Kymora Johnson, a five-star combo guard who initially didn’t even consider the program.

“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.”

Three years later, Johnson has become one of the NCAA Tournament’s breakout stars. She scored 28 points against the Hawkeyes, including the game-tying layup at the end of the first overtime. Johnson had 28 points against Georgia and 17 against Arizona State. The NCAA performances reflect her regular-season accolades, which included first-team All-ACC honors. She finished second in ACC scoring and first in assists.

Johnson’s toughness also was on display against Iowa. She played all 50 minutes and connected on eight of nine free throws combined in the two overtime periods.

“That girl’s a dog. There’s literally no other way to describe it,” said Virginia forward Sa’Myah Smith, who previously played at LSU. “That’s who she is day in and day out. But now she’s putting it on for the world to see. She needs to get the recognition that she deserves. She’s one of the top guards in the country.”



It took more than just Johnson to hold off the Hawkeyes. Sound decibels reached jet-engine levels at 119 decibels, and the Cavaliers trailed Iowa by nine points midway through the fourth quarter. Guard Paris Clark then drilled a pair of 3-pointers followed by a jumper on three straight possessions to take the ’Hoos’ deficit to one. The Hawkeyes built their lead to six points with 3:56 left in regulation, but Romi Levy and Johnson knocked down 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to tie the score at 57-57. Iowa had a last opportunity at a win but guard Chit Chat Wright missed a jumper at the buzzer.

Iowa led by two points with 18.5 seconds left in the first overtime, but Johnson tied the score on a layup four seconds later, and the Hawkeyes missed two shots on their final possession to move into second overtime. Johnson took over from there, seven consecutive points in one sequence to pull out the victory.

“We had a lot of confidence, obviously, coming off the two wins, and we got down to the stretch with the other two teams as well,” Johnson said. “We knew this one was going to be close. We knew we weren’t going to win by a lot, but we knew we weren’t going to lose.”

Johnson leaped into the air and danced with her teammates, then found her mom and cried. Agugue-Hamilton looked upward in prayer. The celebration spilled off the floor and into their locker room before the players and coaches started hauling out six days’ worth of clothes and materials and prepare for a trip to Sacramento to face third-seeded TCU on Saturday.

Agugua-Hamilton had time to reflect on her path toward rebuilding Virginia basketball. The Cavaliers played only five games in 2020-21 before canceling the rest of the season for health and safety concerns amid the pandemic. The following year, Virginia was 5-22, and Agugua-Hamilton was hired following a successful run at Missouri State. She wanted to focus on building a culture, and in her first three seasons, the Cavaliers finished around the .500 mark each time. This was her breakout campaign, and it was her persistence in persuading Johnson to lead it when she first arrived that made it happen.

“It was very difficult to get her on grounds,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “She lives less than two miles away, and it took probably two months, my first two months there to even get her to come and talk to us. 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. It’s not just her talent. … It’s who she is as a person and her selfless nature, her giving nature, her high character. She really is like an ambassador for our sport and obviously for our program.”

Johnson’s smile never left her face. On her way off the floor, she glanced up at the scoreboard “making sure it was right.” She gave Virginia an opportunity when no one else did, and when nobody gave the Cavaliers a chance to win in Iowa City, Johnson was the reason they did. She could have committed elsewhere after high school and didn’t.

She could have left in the transfer portal in each of the last two years but chose to stay.

Now, all of those thoughts met her at the confluence of a big-time upset as this tournament’s only true Cinderella story. This is the ’Hoos first Sweet 16 trip in 26 years, and they’re the first No. 10 seed to qualify for the Sweet 16 since 2022. But it was something intangible that stood out to her in the moment, rather than the accomplishment. In one word, character.

“That’s what I want to be remembered for,” Johnson said. “I want to have a legacy that lasts beyond basketball, beyond who I am as a player, but more as a person. I believe in this program.”

You also could add love. In a full-circle moment, Johnson looked at Agugua-Hamilton and said, “Not a lot of players can say they have such a good relationship with their coach, so I’m really blessed to be in this position. I love you.”

Agugua-Hamilton smiled and said, “I love you, too.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Virginia Cavaliers, Women's College Basketball

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