Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, Coach Mox to UVA players and UVA fans, liked what she saw from her team in the second half of Virginia’s 74-49 win over Campbell on Sunday at JPJ.
“I didn’t like how we were playing in the first half. We were in foul trouble. We weren’t really being us, but the second half was more of us,” said Agugua-Hamilton, whose team trailed 35-29 at halftime, after being outscored 25-12 in the second quarter.
Campbell (2-1) was 10-of-15 from the floor in that second quarter.
Whatever Coach Mox had to tell her team at the break, she may want to bottle that.
The Camels were 4-of-27 from the floor the rest of the way, missing 16 of their 17 shots in the fourth quarter.
“I challenged a few players [at] halftime, Lex [Alexia Smith] in particular, because she’s one of our defensive stoppers, and I didn’t think she was doing that in the first half, she really was a huge spark in the second half for us. Our bigs did great, especially in the second half defensively, they shut down number 32, and I just really liked how our team responded,” Agugua-Hamilton said.
Number 32 is Campbell forward Christabel Ezumah., who had 13 points and eight rebounds on 6-of-10 shooting in the first half, but was limited to a single point and three boards in 10 second-half minutes.
A 14-0 Virginia run turned a seven-point deficit into a 49-42 on the second of a pair of free throws from Northwestern transfer Jillian Brown with 1:59 to go in the third.
Svenia Nurenberg broke a 6:43 scoring drought with a layup that would cut the UVA lead to five, but another long run – 21-0 over the next 8:22 – would see the Cavaliers build a 70-44 lead before Campbell would score again, at the 2:46 mark of the final quarter, on a free throw by Gianni Boone.
All five Virginia starters finished in double-digits in scoring – led by Camryn Taylor’s 16 points.
Five-star freshman Kymora Johnson had 15 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
Brown and London Clarkson each had 12 points, and Smith chipped in 10.
“It feels good to be 2-0. I thought that was a really good game for us. Challenged us defensively in the first half and we had to really lock down and get back to our principles, get back to playing how we practice,” Agugua-Hamilton said.
The Cavaliers return to John Paul Jones Arena to host William & Mary (0-3) on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra (ACCNX).