NEW YORK – Vanderbilt women’s basketball sophomore Mikayla Blakes has been named to The Athletic All-America first team, as announced by the publication on Thursday. Blakes becomes the first Commodore to earn a first-team All-American distinction in 23 seasons.
The sophomore becomes just the 11th Vanderbilt women’s basketball player to be named a first-team All-American by a women’s basketball publication. Blakes is the first Vanderbilt women’s basketball player since Chantelle Anderson in 2002-03 to earn a first-team All-American recognition.
Blakes joins Anderson (’01, ’02, ’03), Barbara Brackman (’82), Karen Booker (’87), Harriet Brumfield (’82), Jackie Cowan (’83, ’86), Deborah Denton (’88), Heidi Gillingham (’93), Ashley McElhiney (’03), Sheri Sam (’95, ’96), Wendy Scholtens (’89, ’90) as the only Vanderbilt women’s basketball players to earn first-team All-American honors from a publication.
The guard averaged 27.1 points, 4.6 assists and 2.9 steals per game. Blakes shot 46.6 percent from the floor and held a 36.1 percent success rate from behind the arc in 2025-26. Her 27.1 points per game led NCAA Division I in scoring, as her 12 games with 30-plus points this season were the most by a player in the country.
Blakes set the SEC ablaze this season. The All-American averaged 30.5 points per game, while shooting 46.9 percent from the floor and 39.8 percent from behind the arc in league games. The guard had 10 of her 12 30-point efforts in the SEC, which includes a season-high 38 points at Mississippi State on Jan. 15. Blakes scored double-digits in every game this season and is currently riding a 49-game double-digit scoring streak, which is the longest active streak in the SEC and third-longest in NCAA Division I.
The sophomore becomes the sixth Commodore to earn All-American honors in multiple seasons. In 2024-25, as a freshman, she was a six-time All-American. Blakes was named a second-team All-American by the USBWA, ESPN, The Athletic, and The Sporting News, while she was voted to the AP All-American third team and named an honorable mention by the WBCA.
The Somerset, New Jersey, native has been racking up the awards in 2025-26. Earlier this week, Blakes was named the SEC Player of the Year by both the league’s coaches and USA Today. Additionally, Blakes was named All-SEC first team by both outlets, while she was the only unanimous selection by USA Today.
Blake was named the SEC Player of the Week a school-record six times this season, while she was selected as the AP National Player of the Year on three occasions, and has been part of the USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale National Players of the Week team five times. Additionally, Blakes is a finalist for the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year, the Wooden Award, the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, and the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Award.
The No. 5/5 Commodores head to Greenville, South Carolina, this week for the 2026 SEC Tournament. Vanderbilt has secured the tournament’s No. 2 seed and will play in its first game at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on Friday at 5 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
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