NEW YORK – Freshman Mikayla Blakes has been named to The Athletic All-America second team, as announced by the publication on Monday. Blakes becomes the first Commodore to earn an All-American distinction in 14 seasons.
The freshman becomes the 19th Commodore to be named an All-American by a major women’s basketball publication. Blakes is the first Vanderbilt women’s basketball player since Jence Rhoads in 2010-11 to earn an All-American recognition, when Rhoads was named to the Associated Press All-American honorable mention squad. Blakes is also the first Commodore to earn first- or second-team All-American honors since Chantelle Anderson’s AP Second-Team All-American selection in 2002-03. Additionally, Blakes is the third Vanderbilt freshman to earn All-American status in program history, joining Barbara Brackman and Harriet Brumfield, who were named to the Women’s Basketball News Service All-America first team in 1981-82.
The Somerset, New Jersey native, has taken the nation by storm in her freshman season. Blakes’ 23.3 points per game average is the sixth-best scoring average in NCAA Division I this season, while it leads all freshmen nationally. The guard ranks in the top 20 nationally in six categories and is the only freshman placed inside the top 30 nationally in scoring (6th; 23.3), free throws made (8th; 167), steals (21st; 75) and 3-pointers made (32nd; 72).
Her 26.9 points per game average in SEC play led the league, as she scored 30 or more points in five SEC contests. Overall, Blakes has registered 20-plus points in 18 games this season and has collected five-plus assists in eight contests.
Blakes rewrote the NCAA, SEC and Vanderbilt record books multiple times this season. Her 55-point performance at Auburn on Feb. 16 set the NCAA freshman single-game and SEC single-game scoring records. She previously set the SEC single-game and NCAA true freshman scoring records on Jan. 30 with a 53-point effort at Florida. Blakes also set the Vanderbilt single-game scoring record on three separate occasions this season.
The guard has set the Vanderbilt freshman record for most points scored in a season with 699 points through 30 regular season games. Blakes’ 699 points scored are the fourth-most by a Commodore in a single season in program history. The 699 points are the most scored by a Vanderbilt women’s basketball player since 2001-02, when Chantelle Anderson registered 765 points.
In addition to her second-team All-American selection by The Athletic, Blakes was also selected as the SEC Newcomer of the Year and named to the All-SEC first team by USA Today.
Vanderbilt heads to Greenville, South Carolina, for the 2025 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament as the No. 8 seed. The Commodores earned a bye into the second round and will play on Thursday at 10 a.m. CT against the winner of Wednesday’s first round game against No. 9-seed Tennessee and No. 16-seed Texas A&M.
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