As an avid supporter of the University of Virginia women’s basketball program who hasn’t missed a game – home or away – in two seasons, Jessica Thomas-Johnson’s loyalty is regularly rewarded with text messages from the team's star player.
The Cavaliers can be on their way to play in Blacksburg or California, and Thomas-Johnson’s phone still buzzes with a familiar image. That’s All-Atlantic Coast Conference guard Kymora Johnson checking in with her mother in their unique way.
“If they’re on a bus ride or a plane ride,” Thomas-Johnson said of her daughter, “she’ll have her head lying on her hand and she’ll snap me a picture of her forearm.”
On Kymora Johnson’s left forearm are the tattooed words, “No matter where.” On Thomas-Johnson’s left forearm are the tattooed words, “No matter what.”
“Because I’m an athlete, because I travel, (I wanted) ‘No matter where.’ I’m always there for her,” Kymora says of her mother. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
The Charlottesville natives were inked together in town at Rough Waters Tattoo Company.
“I always wanted ‘No matter what,’ because our love as a mom is unconditional with our children,” Thomas-Johnson said.
“Because I’m an athlete,” Kymora Johnson said, “because I travel, (I wanted) ‘No matter where.’ I’m always there for her.”
While the inscription is small, Thomas-Johnson says she always notices the tattoo on her daughter, even amid the blur of a basketball game. Kymora’s had it since the start of last season, a campaign that saw her reach 1,000 career points and become the first Wahoo in 24 years to make first-team All-ACC as a sophomore.
At some point Tuesday evening, when the Cavaliers open the 2025-26 season against Morgan State at John Paul Jones Arena, Kymora may take a moment to find her mom in the crowd. They’ll lock eyes and hold their tattooed arms out toward each other.
“It’s just sort of our connection,” Thomas-Johnson said.
Kymora Johnson: It’s home and it means something to me to play and be able to represent this state, this city. It is special. It’s an opportunity, it’s a blessing. It’s a joy.
This is only the beginning.
Narrator: Home is where her story begins – Charlottesville, Virginia. Sophomore Kymora Johnson is not just a homegrown talent. She’s the latest Cavalier guard to make national waves. First as a prospect, playing up in age group in boys AAU. And then as a consensus five-star that signaled a competitive return to form for Virginia basketball.
Her foundations of family and community, combined with a tenacity for perfect, and the result – a student-athlete poised for not just individual success, but inspirational influence.
Jessica Thomas-Johnson: Probably 3, she started doing this, like, little YMCA basketball. So, we could tell immediately this was her thing.
I remember her in my driveway on a Saturday morning at 8 o’clock with one hand behind her back dribbling. And she was like 7 or 8. Like, no one sent her out there.
Kymora Johnson: My dad played basketball at a small HBCU. He kind of introduced me to the game. Always at the gym, always doing something with the ball.
Growing up, I played with the boys. There wasn’t any girls teams, so I had to play with the boys.
Thomas-Johnson: For the first at least five years, she rode the bench. A lot. And there were some hard moments during that, but, a, she picked up a lot of IQ from just watching the game. And I think that it gave her a sense of humility that I’ve not seen waver.
Kymora Johnson: And then when I was going into my fifth grade year, I played in a national tournament and we got kicked out of the tournament because I was a girl on the boys team.
So, that kind of sparked my love for the game. That’s when I really felt like, “Oh, this is what I want to do. I want to make change. And I’m going to use the game to help me do so.”
That was, like, my pivotal moment where I got to do something with this.
Narrator: Fueled by that motivation, Kymora made a name for herself on the travel circuit while her family made the sacrifice of time, money and togetherness to further her ultimate dreams of playing college basketball.
When it came time for the blue-chip recruit to pick a program, it was the one in her own backyard that turned out to be her dream fulfilled.
Thomas-Johnson: I think as she got older, she started to figure out things that were important to her. She wanted to go somewhere that had strong academics so that she could have a degree that mattered.
And there were a couple different staffs that we felt like were our people. But this staff, it was like everyone on the staff. They just seem authentic, they’re genuine.
In July, at her last AAU tournament, she said, “I think I’m going to stay home.” And I thought she was talking about the next weekend and instead of going somewhere … I don’t even know that I thought. But it didn’t even dawn on me that it was UVA.
She told me that she had known in her heart for a long time, but it took her brain a while to know.
Broadcaster 1: Kymora Johnson!
Broadcaster 2: Yeah, she’s good. I’m just going to leave it at that.
Narrator: Now in her second year for the Cavaliers, Kymora has proven to be one of the nation’s most dynamic and versatile playmakers.
Broadcaster 3: Johnson showing off the strength all in one motion!
Broadcaster 4: Another 3-ball for Kymora Johnson.
Broadcaster 5: Coast to coast for Kymora Johnson. Johnson, and of course it goes!
Narrator: The kind of success and drive that has a direct thread to Virginia greats.
Kymora Johnson: Guards like China Crosby, Dawn Staley. I think just the passion and energy they bring to the game as tough, tough guards. The fuel and the drive that they have behind their game. I can feel the energy. I can feel the connection.
Those guards, specifically from Virginia, are people I look up to and looked up to in the past. So …
Thomas-Johnson: She knew women’s basketball history at UVA and knew the success they had and the heights they’ve reached. So, she was very vocal about, “We’re going to get back there.” and “I’m going to be a part of that. I want to be a part of getting this back to where it should be, where it belongs, where we’ve been.”
Narrator: Past is prologue. Not just for Virginia basketball, but for Kymora and her family as well. John Paul Jones Arena, the special setting of childhood memories, dreams of the future and even her father’s one-time workplace. But it’s Kymora Johnson who will ultimately write her own history.
Kymora Johnson: My mom grew up here. Like, she watched Dawn Staley, she watched the Burge twins. I was a ball-girl for a lot of the games.
But I never thought I would be able to play here. It’s an honor to be able to play here. I just feel like it’s such an inspiration to my family. I think they get such joy out of seeing me play and it just makes me so relieved to know I’m making them proud.
Troy Johnson: To see her play at a place where … actually I used to work there, watched the games and used to say to myself, “Hmm, one day, my child’s going to be on this floor.”
Lo and behold, look, she’s here. Whatever she wants to do, she can do whatever. Anything’s possible. It’s just heartwarming. I love it.
Thomas-Johnson, a mother of six, has been attending her oldest daughter’s games for as long as she could dribble a basketball. Thomas-Johnson was there in South Carolina in 2015 when Kymora’s travel team, the Charlottesville Cavaliers, was disqualified from a national tournament because of a rule infraction.
The infraction? A girl, a 10-year-old Johnson, played in an otherwise all-boys tournament. The controversy, sparked by a miscommunication, drew national headlines.
“She was devastated,” Thomas-Johnson said.
