Virginia improved to 2-0 in a dominant 101-46 victory over visiting UMBC Thursday night at John Paul Jones Arena, a game in which all 11 Cavaliers on the roster scored.
UVA reached the century mark for the first time since the 2017-18 season, scored 80-plus in back-to-back games for the first time since the 2014-15 season, and for the second time in two games, had five players in double figures, led by Notre Dame grad transfer and hometown star Samantha Brunelle’s 21 points and 7 rebounds.
Senior forward Camryn Taylor added 15 points and 7 rebounds, junior Mir McLean posted 13 points and 8 boards in her season debut, while senior forward London Clarkson and freshman guard Yonta Vaughn each added 10 off the bench.
The Cavaliers shot 49.4 percent on the night (42-for-85), including 36.0 percent from downtown (9-for-25). UVA owned the glass, 65-32, recording 60-plus rebounds for the first time since 2012-13.
“I’m very proud of our team and how we played,” said Virginia first-year coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton. “We talked a lot about being consistent and just locking into the game plan, no matter if we’re up by 40 or if it’s a tie game or whatever it is. So I’m happy to see that we did that really 1-through-11. And this is the first game really — probably the first time all year — that we’ve had 11 people out there, even in practice, so it just felt great to have our whole team and the energy that that brought.”
After misfiring on their first three shot attempts of the game, the Wahoos caught fire, going on a 10-2 run — capped by five straight points by Sam Brunelle — to start the contest.
The Retrievers (1-1) hung around early, but converted on just one field goal in the second quarter, and that was on a Paloma Iradier basket just before the halftime buzzer. UVA led 50-21 at the break, outscoring UMBC 22-3 in the period and holding the Retrievers without a point for over seven minutes.
The Hoos kept the pedal to the metal out of the locker room, stretching the lead to 76-32 by the end of the third quarter. After topping the 80-point plateau on a sweet Brunelle bucket early in the fourth, the Cavaliers kept inching closer to the 100-point mark.
Brunelle scored again to make it 91-40 at the four-minute mark, and hitting triple digits became a realistic opportunity.
Vaughn knocked down a triple, followed by another long ball from fellow freshman sharpshooter Cady Pauley, and then a Kaydan Lawson layup off a UMBC turnover made it 99-43 with still 1:28 remaining.
With 52 ticks to go, it was a Clarkson putback of a Vaughn miss that sent those on hand in the home crowd into a frenzy.
“I’m not saying I was like dead focused on [scoring 100], but when it happened, yeah, it was a lot of joy behind it,” said Agugua-Hamilton. “You know, it just shows what kind of team we have and the versatility we have. We have a lot of scorers and everybody’s kind of buying into their role, and we can get 100 points when we do that.”
The Cavaliers posted 47 points off the bench, 64 points in the paint, 20 points off of 19 Retriever giveaways, and scored 20 second-chance points off of 23 offensive rebounds. In addition, the Hoos outscored UMBC on the fast break, 27-6.
Junior guard Alexia Smith, a transfer from Minnesota, grabbed a career-high and game-high 9 rebounds in her first game with the Hoos, who as a team recorded 8 blocks and 8 steals in the all-around effort.
“I like where we are,” said Coach Mox. “Obviously it’s early, we’re still evolving, but I like that we’re getting better every game. I thought we got better from last game to today, especially defensively. So we’ve just got to continue. Like I say all the time, progress is a process. Take it one day at a time.”
Next up for the Cavaliers is the ACC opener — the earliest conference game on the calendar in school history — as Wake Forest visits JPJ on Sunday at 2 p.m. on ACC Network.
“Wake is an ACC game, we understand the importance of it,” said Agugua-Hamilton, “but really, it’s just the next game on our schedule. So I don’t care who it is, we’re always going to prepare the same way. And like I tell the players confidence comes from preparation, so we just pride ourselves in being ready.”
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