The Shadow
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — On a weekend when many of Debbie Ryan’s former players and staffers returned to Grounds to celebrate her illustrious career, there was no better way for the current University of Virginia women’s basketball team to honor Ryan than with a winning performance at John Paul Jones Arena. And that’s exactly what the Cavaliers produced Sunday afternoon.
In what ranks as its best victory of the season, UVA defeated ACC rival Notre Dame 81-70 in front of an appreciative crowd of 5,223 that included Ryan, who led the program for 34 seasons (1977-78 to 2010-11). Under Ryan, who was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008, the Wahoos made 24 trips to the NCAA tournament and advanced to the Final Four three times.
The court in the women’s basketball gym at JPJ was named for Ryan during an alumni dinner Saturday, and at halftime Sunday a banner commemorating her legendary career was raised to the rafters in the northwest corner of the arena. It hangs across from similar banners honoring former UVA men’s coaches Terry Holland and Tony Bennett.
“Debbie’s done so much for this place,” said Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, who’s in her fourth season as Virginia’s head coach. “Her name is synonymous with UVA women’s basketball. And just about 99% of those [women’s basketball] banners up there, she was a part of and led the charge. Ryan now works in fundraising for UVA Athletics, and “we appreciate everything she does,” Agugua-Hamilton said.
The current Cavaliers also drew inspiration from former players like Wendy Palmer, who encouraged them to have “that dog mentality,” junior guard Kymora Johnson recalled with a smile Sunday.
The alumni “kind of added some fuel to our fire,” Aguga-Hamilton said. “They talked to our players and just gave them extra boosts. too, and it’s great to be around those that wore the same jersey as them and are hanging in the rafters and take so much pride in this school, because that’s how they’re going to be, too, when they leave their legacy.”
Before the game, Johnson said, she reminded senior guard Paris Clark of Palmer’s advice. “So we came out and we knew had to lead our team,” Johnson said, “and I think we did just that today.” Johnson finished with a game-high 29 points and also had five assists, four rebounds and two steals. Clark scored 15 points—her most since Jan. 4—pulled down eight rebounds and made three steals.
The Cavaliers (17-7 overall, 9-4 ACC) employed a zone defense that forced 19 turnovers, and they turned those Notre Dame mistakes into 22 points. The Fighting Irish (15-9, 7-6) shot well from 3-point range (10 of 24), but inside the arc they were only 13 of 31.
“They did hit some 3s,” Agugua-Hamilton said, “but I thought we had control over what was going on in the zone. We were flying around, we were getting stops, and we were creating offense from our defense.”
Notre Dame came into the game ranked No. 30 in the NET. Virginia was No. 38 but had yet to beat a team ranked better than No. 40 in the latest NET.
UVA, which is tied for fifth in the ACC, is looking to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017-18. To do so the Cavaliers will need to pick up some more quality wins. They got one Sunday, and they’ll have opportunities to improve their résumé in their remaining regular-season games. The first three of those are on the road. Virginia plays at California (15-10, 6-6) on Thursday, at Stanford (16-9, 5-7) next Sunday, and at Louisville (22-4, 12-1) on Feb. 22.
UVA hosts North Carolina (20-5, 9-3) on Feb. 26 and then closes the regular season against Virginia Tech (18-7, 8-5) at JPJ on March 1.
“We’re in February,” Agugua-Hamilton said Sunday, “so you’ve just got to be focused on the next game and stacking [victories]. We need to be trending in the right direction, and we are. So I think it’s a great win, and then we’ve got to get on to the next one and then the next one and the next one. And then go ahead and make our run in the ACC tournament and then get ready for postseason.”
Not since 2020 had UVA defeated Notre Dame. Since losing last weekend to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, the Hoos have won straight games, and Agugua-Hamilton sees her team gaining confidence.“We’re getting used to playing with each other,” she said. “We know we’re getting better. Synergy is getting better. Camaraderie is getting better. So we’ve just got to keep building.”
Notre Dame has the ACC’s leading scorer, guard Hannah Hidalgo, who came in averaging 24.9 points per game. Hidalgo finished with 24 points, eight assists and seven rebounds Sunday, but the best guard on the court was Johnson.
Asked if she gets motivation from facing elite players like Hidalgo, Johnson said, “I think every game fuels me. My team fuels me. They keep me going. And I think today I was just focused on getting the win.”
Agugua-Hamilton liked the aggressive mentality her team showed from the start. Notre Dame led 18-17 after one quarter, but the Cavaliers went ahead to stay on a jumper by center Tabitha Amanze at the 8:06 mark of the second quarter. Amanze finished with 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and steals. “We played downhill,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “We didn’t just settle for shots. We read progressions really well. We got it to the open person on offense.
“Defensively, whether we were in zone or man, we were very aggressive. Sometimes when people go zone, you can sit back and relax a little bit, take breaks. But we were really aggressive in the zone, and we were able to create offense from our defense.”
And so the Hoos added an exclamation point to a memorable weekend for the program. At halftime Sunday, Ryan, accompanied by a large group of family members, came out to midcourt, where director of athletics Carla Williams and UVA president Scott Beardsley congratulated her while fans stood and applauded. After her banner was raised, Ryan took the microphone.
“Last night I told my players that that banner belonged to them,” she told the crowd. “You all were part of it too. This is your banner too.”
