Women's Basketball Starts Strong

To say there were a lot of question marks about the Virginia women's basketball program this year would be an understatement. If you take a look at my preview from HOOps Week, you'll see what I mean.

The season is still young, but with the team sitting at 4-0 we can at least say "so far, so good."

It all started off with an 87-82 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes. Sarah Imovbioh led the way with an amazing double-double of 18 points and 24 rebounds. 24! Faith Randolph added 25 points and Breyana Mason had 22.

Up next was the quick dispatch of an undermanned Radford squad with a final margin of 75-47. Imovbioh just missed a double-double with 14 points and 9 rebounds, but another herculean effort was hardly needed that night. True Freshman Mikayla Venson had 12 points.

Then it was back to the grind. The Cavaliers went on the road to Xavier and took down the Musketeers 71-62. Faith Randolph led all scorers with 26 points, while Imovbioh continued to impress with another double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Returning home on Sunday, Virginia faced off against the Auburn Tigers. The result? More of the same. 'Hoos won 66-51 and Imovbioh had her third double-double in four games with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Randolph and Venson added 18 and 10 points respectively.

Clearly the big takeaway from the first four games is the play of Sarah Imovbioh. She's been nothing short of stellar. Through four games she has 71 points and 59 rebounds. That means she's averaging nearly 18 points and 15 rebounds per game. That's simply fantastic.

It's also nice to see that Mikayla Venson has stepped into the role that we had hoped she would. She's averaging 9.5 points per game and appears to be quite comfortable in her role.

The Cavaliers will continue to be able to work on their lineup and their new defense over the next month as most of their slate from now until January is shaded to the easy side. The Florida International Tournament this week, and the Holiday Inn University Area Cavalier Classic at the end of next month along with several other non-conference games in-between.