NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST FOUR - ARIZONA STATE VS VIRGINIA

March 19, 2026

Amaka Agugua-Hamilton

Caitlin Weimar

Kymora Johnson

Carver Hawkeye Arena

Virginia Cavaliers

Media Conference

Virginia 57, Arizona State 55

THE MODERATOR: We're joined at the dais by Virginia head coach, Amaka Agugua-Hamilton Caitlin Weimar and Kymora Johnson. We'll have a brief, two-minute opening statement from coach and then we'll entertain questions for the student-athletes. Coach?

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: Amaka Agugua-Hamilton.

THE MODERATOR: Sorry.

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: You're okay. Really proud of our players. That was a gutsy performance. We had to ground that one out. Arizona State, they're a very physical defensive team. That's what they're known for. They make it hard for you to run anything. They really make it hard for 40 minutes. I was just proud of our players, just kind of weather the storm through some of the adversity we hit in the game but we were so urgent at the end and we just stayed together and really was on one accord.

THE MODERATOR: Okay, now we'll entertain questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Hi, this is for anyone who wants to answer. Just, from what you know about Arizona State and Molly Miller being sick for a few days and just what they had to go through, what did you see from this team today?

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: What they had to go through? I'm sorry, can you elaborate on that?

THE MODERATOR: Well, actually, we're going to take questions for the student-athletes first and then...

Q. Yeah, yeah, of course. Just, what did you see the team look like today and just what they had to go through with just kind of a bit of adversity over the last few weeks or this last week?

KYMORA JOHNSON: The other team?

Q. Yeah.

KYMORA JOHNSON: Well, I think we came out from the beginning with the mindset of just winning mentality, Downton mentality. We stuck together, fought, and ultimately came out with the win.

THE MODERATOR: Any other further questions for the student-athletes?

Q. Congratulations, you guys. This is for the athletes. Obviously it wasn't the best shooting game for either side, but how did you guys come out with a W? It seemed like you guys faced a lot of adversity and obviously came out on top.

KYMORA JOHNSON: Yeah, we always tell ourselves next shot. That's what everybody was saying when we come into the huddles. I heard it from literally every single player, Coach. We just kept shooting and eventually they fell and when they needed to fall they fell.

CAITLIN WEIMAR: I think we really tried our best to just focus on defense, too. When the shots weren't following, we just knew we had to get some stops and just keep on pushing through that and hopefully the offense would come so it's a kind of what we did.

MODERATOR: Any further questions? Ladies, thank you so much. Congratulations.

Coach, you can stick around for a couple of minutes.

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: Sorry.

THE MODERATOR: No, you're fine. We're not letting you out that easy.

Okay. Any questions for Coach? Did you want to follow up on what your question was? You can go ahead. You don't need to microphone.

Q. Just what you knew about what they had to go through, what was your assessment today?

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: With all due respect, I'm not really concerned about that. I was concerned about our players. We had to go through a lot.

We've been through a lot of adversity. Especially the end of our season, we have players who have been through adversity. We've been -- there's a lot on our side, too. Some stays in-house. Some we've talked about in media prior to the game.

I'm just proud of our team. I'm proud of the win. This is big for our program and for us to do it in a way where we had to weather the storm, we had to rely on our defendants which is something we better at this last week and a half. I'm just really proud of our effort.

Q. Coach, after such a physical game today, what is the mindset going up against the number seven seed Georgia on Saturday?

AMAKA AGUGUA-HAMILTON: Yeah, Georgia's a physical team, too. They're a defensive team. That's what their coach is known for, Coach Abe. Known her a long time. Have tremendous respect for her and everything she does. It's going to be another physical game. It's going to be another game where we have to be able to run our stuff and set and use screens, execute, out of time-outs, things like that, which today we were kind of thrown off.

We'll get better and we'll continue to get better but we live to fight another day. We're blessed for that opportunity and now it's about recovering from this game, resting, getting back to it tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. Congratulations.