Virginia knocks off No. 2 seed Iowa in 2OT to reach Sweet 16 - ESPN

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 last Thursday's First Four game, following that with an 82-73 overtime win over Georgia in Saturday's first-round game, and then beating the Hawkeyes (27-7), who were playing in front of a sellout home crowd of 14,332.

«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,» Johnson said, «we're a confident team, and I think we believe in all the work that we've put in. Not a lot of people have. They've written us off. We came into March trying to show what Virginia is