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WINTER 2024-25 21 by Latasha Lattimore. The 6-foot-4 fourth- year played for Miami the last two seasons, contributing to a Hurricanes team that made the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tourna- ment in 2023. The Cavaliers also brought in RyLee Grays from North Carolina, Casey Valenti-Paea from Long Beach State and Hawa Doumbouya from Maryland. Lat- timore, Grays and Valenti-Paea will all play this season, while the 6-foot-7 Doumbouya will redshirt. Agugua-Hamilton also brings three first- years into the program: forward Breona Hurd and guards Payton Dunbar and Kamryn Kitchen. Dunbar and Kitchen both arrived on Grounds early, reclassifying after gradu- ating from high school a year early. Virginia was picked to finish ninth in the annual ACC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll going into the season. A year after finishing in a tie for 10th in the league, the Cavaliers will be playing with a chip on their shoulder this season. "I think the overall vibe of the group is we have something to prove," Agugua-Hamilton said. "I think that's when you know you're in a good place, because nobody's compla- cent, nobody's coming into practice and not giving their all." Virginia has not made the NCAA Tourna- ment since the Cavaliers reached the sec- ond round in 2018, but this team has all of the pieces and momentum to change that this season. "We're garnering a lot of attention," Agugua-Hamilton said, "and we just gotta continue to put on a show for [the fans], for lack of a better term. I think it's going to translate into recruiting, it's going to trans- late into all areas of our program. "I love how the community is getting be- hind us. That was really awesome last year. They helped get us over the hump, and I think it's going to be even more consistent this year." Second-year point guard Kymora Johnson is looking to take the next step after her outstanding rookie campaign. She led the Hoos in scoring, assists, steals and three-pointers made last season when she was named second-team All-ACC, and she also ranked second on the team in rebounds. She did all that despite playing with a foot injury that required offseason surgery. Now, Johnson looks to continue rewriting the record books. The Charlottesville native proved her five-star recruit status last season, averaging 15.3 points a game and totaling 489 for the season. Just behind Johnson on the score sheet was Camryn Taylor (14.8), Paris Clark (9.9) and London Clarkson (6.4). Johnson also topped all Cavaliers in assists with 172 and steals with 56, averaging 5.4 and 1.8 per game, respectively. Starting all 32 of the team's matchups, the point guard saw the most time on the floor, averag- ing 31.0 minutes per game. Johnson showed up when it mattered most, scoring a season- high 35 points on 14-of-20 shooting in Virginia's 91-87 win against No. 15-ranked Florida State Jan. 21. Her 35 points marked the second most by a first-year in program history. She garnered ACC All-Freshman team and second-team All-ACC honors, as well as two ACC Rookie of the Week nods for her outstanding perfor- mances. The rookie recorded her first career double-double with 15 points and a season-high 10 assists against No. 19 Syracuse Feb.18. What the stats do not show is that Johnson was playing through a foot injury that required offseason surgery. Head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton believes Johnson had the opportunity to work on other parts of her game while rehabilitating her foot. "The biggest development that she needed to have, the big- gest jump she needed to have, was leadership, but then also decision-making on the court, and that was one thing we talked a lot about," Agugua-Hamilton said. "She's way more comfortable in the system. She's way more comfortable understanding time, score possessions, understanding when she needs to take over, when she needs to get people involved, just the flow of the game, when we can go fast, when we need to run offense, things like that." Not only would Johnson need to be a leader on the court, but also in the locker room, with players such as Sam Brunelle, Alexia Smith, Clarkson and Taylor moving on. Only third-year guard Yonta Vaughn has donned the orange and blue longer than Johnson. In an interview with ACC PM, Johnson noted the toughest adjust- ment to college basketball was the speed and pace of the game. She admitted she was just "trying to catch up to everyone else because everyone else is already at that level." The Cavaliers come off a 16-16 (7-11 ACC) record last season. "You go into every game like that, you gotta play with a chip on your shoulder especially when you are underrepresented in the ACC," Johnson said. At the dawn of a new season, Agugua-Hamilton believes "men- tally she's had a huge jump, because she was thrown in the fire as a first-year and that's not easy, especially being a point guard." With the goal of implementing pride and hard work every day, Virginia has started the 2024-25 campaign the same as the last, 5-1 through the first six games. Playing through injury and etching her name in the record books in her first season, Johnson looks to continue proving the overall stats are not fully representative of all her talents. "If you want it more at the end of the day, it is going to come to you," Johnson said. — Jen Dietrich KYMORA JOHNSON IS READY TO STEP INTO LEADERSHIP ROLE Johnson led the Hoos in scoring (15.3 points per game), assists (5.4), steals (1.8) and three- pointers made (1.9) last season en route to second-team All-ACC honors. (Photo courtesy UVA)