CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – For the first time since 2000, Virginia women’s basketball has advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament, defeating the 2-seed Iowa Hawkeyes 83-75 in double overtime Monday in Iowa City, Iowa.

Kymora Johnson played all 50 minutes in the contest and led the 1oth-seeded Cavaliers with 28 points to go along with four assists in the effort. Paris Clark added 20 points and seven rebounds.

“I think we had confidence going into the Georgia game, going into the Arizona State game. 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.”

UVA erased a 9-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force the game into extra periods.

“It’s March. It’s win or go home,” said Paris Clark. “So we fought, we had to fight, we knew we had to fight, and ultimately get the dub.

The Cavaliers led 28-23 at halftime paced by 8 points from Johnson and Caitlin Weimar. The Hawkeyes surged out of the halftime locker room, however, using an 18-4 run to start the quarter to outscore the ‘Hoos 25-11 in the period. Virginia was able to rally and tied the game with 2:10 to go aided by a nearly four-minute scoring drought from Iowa. The Cavaliers could not pull out in front and a missed shot by Wright as time expired sent it to OT. Neither team was able to separate over the next five minutes forcing double overtime where Virginia surged ahead and outscored Iowa 18-10 in the final period.

Virginia improved to 22-11 and has earned multiple NCAA tournament victories for the first time since the 2000 season.

“It means everything,” UVA coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “That’s why I came to Virginia. I chose Virginia. I had a lot of options. We had a great run at my last school, and I wanted to go to Virginia for many reasons.”