The UVA women’s basketball team is losing a key rotation piece, with the news that senior guard Jillian Brown will miss the 2024-2025 season due to an ACL injury that she suffered in May.
Brown, a 5’10” guard, averaged 5.7 points and 4.4 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per game for Virginia in 2023-2024, her first season with the program after transferring in from Northwestern.
UVA Women’s Basketball
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Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton does have depth in the backcourt, so maybe it won’t be as big a blow as you might think.
Virginia returns rising sophomore point guard Kymora Johnson (15.3 ppg, 5.4 assists/g, 4.7 rebs/g, 41.3% FG, 31.7% 3FG), rising junior Paris Clark (9.9 ppg, 4.5 rebs/g, 40.3% FG, 36.0% 3FG), rising sophomore Olivia McGhee (5.5 ppg, 36.5% FG, 28.4% 3FG), with rising junior Yonta Vaughn (5.0 ppg, 3.5 assists/g, 33.3% FG, 31.1% 3FG) as the backup at point to Johnson.
Coach Mox also added Casey Valenti-Paea, most recently of Long Beach State, who averaged 9.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.1 steals per game in 2023-2024, shooting 42.8 percent from the field and 37.9 percent from three-point range, from the transfer portal in early May.
I’m not sure of the timing of that pickup vis-à-vis the injury to Brown, but the timing might not be coincidental.