Virginia Women’s Basketball Adds Guard Payton Dunbar to 2024 Recruiting Class

The Virginia women’s basketball team has added another talented player to its roster for the 2024-25 season. Coach Mox announced Thursday that Payton Dunbar has been signed. He is a guard who will be drafted in 2025 and who will also be transferred to the class of 2024 and will join the Cavaliers for next season.

Dunbar, a 5’11” guard from Narrows, Virginia, was homeschooled but played for Jefferson Christian Academy in Ripplemead, Virginia. Dunbar scored 1,348 points in her career, led her team to a NACA Championship in 2023 and averaged 27 points, four rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block per game.

Dunbar visited Virginia on June 21, amid visits to Wake Forest, Michigan and Rutgers. Each of those schools was in her top six, along with Providence and Virginia Tech, and Dunbar ultimately chose the Cavaliers over those contenders.

“I am excited to welcome Payton to our family,” Coach Mox said of Dunbar. “Payton is another Virginia kid who was born here and is an extremely hardworking woman on and off the court. She is graduating early with a 4.0 GPA and will enroll at UVA in August. She is a tremendous individual who will enhance our culture and already lives the program’s motto, ‘Grind Now, Shine Later.’ She is a three-level scorer who will thrive in our up-tempo style of play. Wahoo Nation, we have another kid from the state that you are going to love.”

Dunbar will join Virginia’s new class of freshmen, which also includes Breona Hurd and Kamryn Kitchen, who also transferred from the class of 2025 when she enrolled at UVA in June.