The Plus/Minus: UVA Women’s Basketball runs away from American

Nov 21, 2022 - 12:59 AM

In a second straight road contest, the Virginia Cavaliers women’s basketball team handled business against American. Following the win, we’ve got our typical plus/minus story covering the good and, well, more of the good!

Plus

A win is a win is a win, but this one feels especially nice. The ‘Hoos are 5 – 0, which is how many games this team won all of last year. Heck, taking into account the abbreviated season two years ago, when the team folded up shop amidst the worldwide pandemic, this is as many games as the team has won in over two years.

Plus

Virginia simply pounded American on the offensive glass, 23 – 7. In addition, the Cavaliers out-rebounded the Eagles overall, 45 – 30. Mir McLean lead the way with an 11-point, 11-rebound double double. She even got one offensive board while she was sprawled on the floor.

Plus

The rebounding edge allowed Virginia to rack up a 75 – 53 edge in total shots, which was necessary because the ‘Hoos didn’t shoot the ball particularly well.

Minus

3 – 20 from three. Woof. Carole Miller made her first 3, but then transformed into a gunner, missing her next four. Cady Pauley was looking to shoot and establish herself as an option off the bench, but she only went 1 – 4.

Minus

In that vein, Taylor Valladay, who was the player of the game, has to pay attention to her feet a bit more. She took a pair of treys where her toes were on the line. Tough breaks that are avoidable if she focused on being a bit more aware of where she was relative to the three-point line.

Plus

All eleven players scored today. Seven Virginia players combined for the team’s first 16 points. Overall, the ball movement was pretty crisp as each player was looking to find the right player in the right spot.

Minus

Kayden Lawson only played nine minutes. She’s thrived under Coach Agugua-Hamilton this year and she seemingly nailed down the starting spot in the backcourt. She didn’t appear injured and she departed when the bench trio of Miller, Yonta Vaughn and Alexia Smith checked in. But she played sparingly the rest of the game, which has not been the case so far this season. Something to keep an eye on moving forward.

Plus

American’s Kayla Henning was fun to watch. She has a beautiful rainbow floater and she could get to the elbow any time she wanted. She hit seven of the prettiest floaters you’ll ever see. If Kihei Clark was this efficient in the paint, the love-him or hate-him argument over on the men’s side would be non-existent.

Plus

Taylor Valladay is playing at an All-ACC level. For the second straight game she took over a close game and blew out the opposition, this time with a 10-point fourth quarter. She attacks the rim. She attacks the paint. She is relentless. But she still makes good decisions and plays within herself.

On two fast breaks in the fourth, she got out in transition, and with the half she was having, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she tried to go coast-coast. We’ve seen many a player do that. But she gave up the ball smartly, and rewarded Sam Brunelle and McKenna Dale who’d pushed hard to get out in front.

Plus

I love Patriot League announcers. They are unabashedly homerific, especially when playing Power-5 ACC schools. But they are also honest, realistic, and spot on with their observations. Jodi Patrick had coached in some capacity against Mir McLean before and she had seen Coach Mox play when she was at Herndon. Her asides were not what you normally get on ESPN.

Plus

This team crashes the offensive boards. It’s just in the basketball DNA for Camryn Taylor, Brunelle, McLean and Lawson. And yet the team is also simultaneously very good at getting back to deny the fast break. This is what I’m going to be paying the most attention to when the team enters the ACC slate.

Up Next:

Virginia’s next game is against Campbell on Wednesday, November 23nd. Game time is 7:00pm and the will be available on ACCN Extra and Regional Sports Networks.