GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Mikayla Blakes rewrote the NCAA women’s basketball record book once again on Thursday at Florida, as the Vanderbilt women’s basketball standout broke the NCAA true freshman record for most points scored in a game with a 53-point performance to lead the No. 23/23-ranked Commodores to a 99-86 road win.
Blakes’ 53 points are the most scored in a game by a first-year player at the NCAA Division I level, breaking JuJu Watkins’ NCAA true freshman single-game scoring record of 51 points, set by the Southern California standout last season. Blakes was one point short of setting the NCAA Division I single-game women’s basketball freshman scoring record, held by Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne, who scored 54 points in a contest as a redshirt freshman in 2009-10. Delle Donne spent her first season as an NCAA student-athlete on Delaware’s volleyball team before playing four seasons of women’s basketball for the Blue Hens.
Blakes is the only Division I player — men’s or women’s — to score at least 50 points in a game this season. Additionally, she set both the SEC and the Vanderbilt women’s basketball single-game scoring records. The freshman broke Jocelyn Penn’s (LSU) SEC single-game record of 51 points, scored on Jan. 4, 2003, against Stetson. Blakes also surpassed Khamil Pierre’s previous school record of 42 points, which was set on Dec. 17 vs. Evansville.
The freshman came out of the gates on fire after her 33-point performance at No. 19 Alabama, as the guard scored 21 points over the first two quarters. Blakes remained hot after halftime, as she registered 32 points in the final two frames, scoring 18 points in the fourth quarter alone. The guard shot 66.7 percent from the field, going 16-of-24. She made a career-high 16 free throws, which is tied for third-most school history, and connected on five 3-point field goals.
Her 53 points also tied the Exactech Arean at O’Connell Center scoring record, set by LSU’s Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf back during the 1988-89 season. Blakes becomes the first Commodore since 1999-00 to have back-to-back games with 30-plus points.
Blakes previously set the Vanderbilt freshman record with 36 points vs. Georgia in her SEC debut on Jan. 3. Coupled with her 33-point performance at No. 19 Alabama last Sunday, Blakes is the first Vanderbilt freshman in school history to have back-to-back games with 30-plus points. The guard is also the first SEC freshman to have a 40-plus point performance since Mikaylah Williams’ 42 points vs. Kent State on Nov. 14, 2023.
The 13-point victory over the Gators extends Vanderbilt’s winning streak to four games, as the Commodores improve to 18-4 overall and 5-3 in SEC play. It is the first time that Vandy has won four-consecutive SEC games since the 2013-14 season.
The Commodore victory marks the first time in 10 seasons that Vanderbilt has won at Florida. The last Vandy victory in Gainesville came on Feb. 9, 2015, when the Dores posted a 76-75 win in overtime.
Senior Iyana Moore scored 22 points against the Gators. It is the 14th time over the last 15 games that Moore has scored double-digit points. Sophomore Khamil Pierre pulled down 11 rebounds but had her 23-game double-digit scoring streak snapped with a 3-point performance.
The Dores shot 53.1 percent from the floor on Thursday and made 11 3-pointers. Vanderbilt forced the Gators into 18 turnovers, which led to a 31-14 edge in points off turnovers. Vandy collected 11 steals against Florida, as the Commodores collected 10 or more steals for the third-straight game.
How It Happened
Vanderbilt trailed the Gators 5-2 in the opening stages of the first quarter, but a 3-pointer from Pierre sparked an 8-2 run that gave the Commodores a 10-7 advantage at the 4:56 mark. Florida responded with a 7-0 spurt to retake a 14-10 advantage, but Vandy punched back by scoring nine-straight points to go up 19-14 with less than 30 seconds remaining in the frame. The Gators got a pair of free throws to cut the Vandy lead to 19-16 going into the second quarter.
The Dores rolled off the first 10 points of the second stanza to double up on Florida, as the Commodores took a 32-16 lead after a 3-point field goal from junior Justine Pissott. A Gator layup ended Vandy’s run, but the Dores responded with six-straight points after the Florida basket to take a 20-point lead at 38-18 midway through the frame.
Vandy’s lead got trimmed to 51-35 to start the third quarter. A personal 6-0 run by Moore pushed the Commodore advantage back out to 20-plus points, as the Dores held a 59-37 at the 5:36 mark. A 9-2 run by Florida cut Vanderbilt’s lead to 66-51. Vandy rolled off five-straight points to push its lead back out to 19 points, but Florida closed the third with a bucket to give the Dores a 73-56 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Florida came out swinging in the fourth quarter, as they opened the frame on an 18-9 run to cut the Commodore lead to single digits at 82-74 with 4:44 left to play. Vanderbilt kept Florida at arm’s length over the final four-plus minutes of the contest, as the Dores pushed their lead back out to double digits before securing the 99-86 road win.
Head Coach Shea Ralph on the Win
“I told the team in the locker room that Mikayla had one of the most incredible performances that I’ve ever seen as a coach, and I’ve coached a lot of really good players for a long time. And that’s not taking anything away from them, when you see a player like her do what she did tonight sometimes she makes things that are really, really hard to do look really easy. That’s the sign of someone who is just gifted. And the cool thing is that she has those gifts physically, but she’s built different internally which is why you see her do this day in and day out. The things that she does that aren’t in the spotlight, that aren’t in buildings with scoring records, are just as impressive. I’m glad she’s on our team, I’ll say that.
“But I also told her and the team in the locker room that she didn’t do this by herself tonight, this was a great team win on the road. It’s like Armageddon in the SEC, every time you go on the road, every time you’re at home, every time you have a game you’re in a fight for your life, and no matter how much we were up today it’s a credit to Florida because they never quit and kept coming back at us. They fought hard, they played hard. I’ve known Kelly [Rae Finley] for a while and she does a really great job with them, so credit to them because they really made us earn this one.
“I thought that Aiyana Mitchell came in and did some great things, Justine Pissott came in and did some awesome things, Madi Greene came in, and obviously Leilani too. There were some wonderful contributions that I think we’ll be able to build on as well as a historic performance from a freshman.”
Up Next
The No. 23-ranked Commodores return to Memorial Gymnasium on Sunday, as Vanderbilt welcomes in Ole Miss. Tipoff against the Rebels is set for 2 p.m., and streams live on SEC Network+.
Dore Notes
– Vanderbilt collected its first win over Florida in Gainesville since Feb. 19, 2015, to snap a four-game losing streak in the Exactech Arena
– The Commodores are now 3-3 vs. Florida under head coach Shea Ralph
– Vanderbilt extends its winning streak to four games
– The Dores have collected four-straight SEC wins for the first time since the 2013-14 season
– Freshman Mikayla Blakes scored an NCAA true freshman record 53 points in the win over the Gators- Blakes recorded her 14th game this season with 20-plus points, while it is her third game scoring 30 or more points
– Blakes becomes the first Commodore since 1999-00 to register 30-plus points in back-to-back games
– Senior Iyana Moore’s 22-point performance puts her at No. 25 Vanderbilt’s all-time scoring list with 1,206 career points
– Moore has now scored double-digit points in 14 of her last 15 games
– Sophomore Khamil Pierre registered her 13th game this season with double-digit rebounds with 14
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