By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE — Career possibilities abound for Kaydan Lawson, a third-year University of Virginia student whose interests are deep and varied.
“I call her my doctor-lawyer-coach, because every time we talk there’s something else,” Georgina Nembhard said, laughing.
Nembhard is the academic coordinator for the unbeaten UVA women’s basketball team, of which Lawson is an integral part. A 6-foot guard from Cleveland, Lawson is averaging 8.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game and shooting 37.5 percent from 3-point range. Among Virginia’s players, only Sam Brunelle (17) has made more treys this season than Lawson (12).
Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, who’s in her first season as the Cavaliers’ head coach, said she occasionally has to push Lawson “a little bit, but it’s just because I believe so much in her talent, and I just think that she’s our X-factor. She’s so versatile on both sides of the ball, and when she’s playing aggressive and just locking in, she can do it all.”
Lawson shines in the classroom, too. She’s a biology major who hopes to become a heart surgeon after attending medical school.
“The heart’s interesting,” Lawson said after practice Tuesday at John Paul Jones Arena. “It does everything for you.”
Her classes this fall included biology, physics and “a religion course to get some general education requirements,” said Lawson, whose mother is a nurse. “But next semester, I’m definitely hitting it a lot harder. I have like three bio classes and a second physics, so it’s pretty chaotic.”
Such a course load would challenge a student with no extracurricular activities. For a Division I student-athlete, the burden could be overwhelming, but Lawson is pulling it off.
“I think one of my favorite things about working with Kaydan is she knows exactly what she wants to do,” Nembhard said, “and she acknowledges that it’s a hard track to be on, especially if you’re going to play great basketball and get great grades to get to her future endeavors. So I really love that she’s very realistic with it. When she comes into our meetings, I know she’s on top of it. She’s prepared, and she knows exactly what I’m going to ask.”
As Lawson gets deeper into her major, Nembhard said, she’ll have to take more labs, and balancing schoolwork and basketball will be more challenging. Lawson, who celebrated her 21st birthday this week, hopes to…