IOWA CITY, Iowa – Kymora Johnson scored 28 points as 10th-seeded Virginia became the first First Four to reach the regional semifinals after an 83-75 double-overtime win over No. 2 seed Iowa on Monday in a women's NCAA Tournament second-round game.
The Cavaliers (22-11) won three games in five days, defeating Arizona State 57-55 in Thursday’s First Four game, following that with an 82-73 overtime win over Georgia in Saturday’s first-round game, and then the Hawkeyes (27-7), who were playing in front of a sellout home crowd of 14,332.
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“We were just so resilient in this game,” Virginia coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “Iowa is a really good team. They’re a 2 seed for a reason. No matter what they threw at us, we just did not get rattled. We just believed that we were going to win this game before it even started. Every time they punched, we punched back, stayed poised.”
It’s the first time Virginia has advanced to the second weekend of the tournament since 2000. It's also the first time a 10-seed has reached the Sweet 16 since Creighton did it in 2022. The Bluejays also beat Iowa in the second round that year to advance.
“We had to do a lot of rebuilding when we got here in all facets of the program, even just rebuilding the community, the energy,” said Agugua-Hamilton, in her fourth season as the Cavaliers' coach. “But resources, players, culture, everything. I knew it was going to be a large task, and it was no small feat. But at the same time, I knew we were going to get it done.”
“Just coming into March, we’re a confident team, and I think we believe in all the work that we’ve put in,” Johnson said. “Not a lot of people have. They’ve written us off. We came into March trying to show what Virginia is about.”
Iowa had chances to win the game in regulation and at the end of the first overtime. Chazadi Wright’s turnaround jumper with one second left in regulation missed, then the Hawkeyes missed two shots at the end of the first overtime, a 3-pointer by Taylor Stremlow and a putback attempt by Ava Heiden.
“They made some big plays,” Iowa coach Jan Jensen said of the Cavaliers. “When you win in March, you make big plays.”
Johnson had 14 of her points in the two overtimes. She played all 50 minutes.
“Hungry and tired,” Johnson said when she was asked about how she felt. “But blessed and happy to be able to get the dub and be able to play 50 minutes.”
Paris Clark had 20 points for the Cavaliers. Romi Levy had 13 points. Caitlin Weimar had 12.
Heiden led Iowa with 26 points. Wright had 21 points. Hannah Stuelke had 15 points and 19 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season.
Virginia led 28-23 at halftime. The Cavaliers shot just 39.3% in the half, but took advantage of Heiden picking up two fouls in the first 4 ½ minutes as well as Iowa’s poor 3-point shooting. The Hawkeyes were 10 of 32 from the field in the half, but only 1 of 12 in 3-pointers.
Hometown player
Johnson, a junior, grew up two miles from Virginia's campus in Charlottesville, and it took her some convincing to play for the Cavaliers.
“It took probably two months, my first two months there to even get her to come and talk to us,” Agugua-Johnson said. “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.”
“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.”
Johnson led the Cavaliers in scoring at 19.3 points per game this season.
Efficient offense
Iowa took 84 shots in the game, 21 more than the Cavaliers. But Virginia shot 44.4% for the game, while the Hawkeyes made just 36.9% of their shots.
“They hit some clutch shots,” Iowa guard Kylie Feuerbach said.
Up next
The Cavaliers move on to the Sacramento Regional 4 semifinals, where they will play third seed TCU.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness