COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Vanderbilt women’s basketball team will be well represented at the USA Basketball Women’s National training camp in Phoenix, Arizona, this Wednesday through Friday, as head coach Shea Ralph will be an on-court coach and sophomore Mikayla Blakes will be in attendance.
Blakes, who will make her senior team camp debut for Team USA in Phoenix, is one of 15 players participating in the Team USA Women’s Basketball April training camp. The Vanderbilt All-American is the only collegiate player participating in the training camp. The sophomore was named the 2025 USA Basketball 5-on-5 Women’s Athlete of the Year after she led the United States to gold at the 2025 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup, where she averaged a team-best 14.0 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. Blakes scored 27 points in the championship game against Brazil, which set the Team USA record for most points scored in a game at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup.
Ralph will serve as an on-court coach for Team USA for the second time. She also coached at the Women’s U18 National Team trials in 2024. The fifth-year Vanderbilt head coach joins USA Basketball Women’s National Team head coach Kara Lawson’s staff at the April training camp. Coaching with Lawson and Ralph in Phoenix will be Niele Ivey, Natalie Nakase, Nate Tibbetts and Stephanie White.
In her fifth season at the helm in the Music City, Ralph guided Vanderbilt back to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 17 seasons. The Commodores posted a 29-5 overall record and a 13-3 mark in SEC games. Vandy’s 29 wins are the third-most in program history, while the 13 SEC victories set the school record for the most conference victories in a season. The Dores earned a No. 2 seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament and hosted March Madness games in Memorial Gymnasium for the first time since the 2011-12 campaign. Ralph guided Vanderbilt to a top-five ranking this season in both the AP top 25 and the USA Today/WBCA coaches poll, marking the first time since the 2001-02 season. The Commodores spent five weeks inside the top five, while Vanderbilt was ranked in the top 10 in both polls for 12 consecutive weeks heading into the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Blakes averaged 27.0 points, 4.5 assists and 2.9 steals per game this season. Her 27.0 points per game led NCAA Division I in scoring and set the Vanderbilt single-season scoring record. Her 918 points are the most points scored in a season in SEC history. The guard has been racking up the postseason awards this season. Blakes has been named a first-team All-American by the Associated Press, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, The Athletic, ESPN and The Sporting News. Earlier this month, Blakes was selected as the SEC Player of the Year by both the league’s coaches and USA Today, and was named to the All-SEC first team by both outlets. Additionally, she is on the Wooden Award National Ballot and is a finalist for the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year and the Wade Trophy.
Ndjakalenga to Play in Lilly Women’s College All-Star Game
Graduate Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda will be one of 20 players to participate in the 2026 Lilly Women’s College All-Star Game. The game will take place on Saturday, April 4, at Grand Canyon University and airs nationwide on ESPN2 at 1 p.m. CT.
Mwenentanda recently concluded her collegiate career, advancing to the Sweet 16 or further in each season. In her lone season with the Commodores, Mwenentanda averaged a career-best 6.9 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, while shooting a career-high 47.2 percent from the floor. The 6-2 forward made a personal-best 20 3-point field goals this season and started in all 34 games.
The Anchored for Her Campaign
Vanderbilt launched the Anchored for Her campaign to honor its pioneering female student-athletes and cement the university’s place as the premier destination for women’s sports ahead of next year’s 50th anniversary of its varsity women’s teams. Bolstered by lead gifts from Vanderbilt Board of Trust members Nina Kohler and Kathleen Justice-Moore, JD’91, Anchored for Her’s initial $50 million goal will fuel investment in sustainable success for a new era of collegiate athletics through facility enhancements, endowed scholarships, coaching and staff positions, capital support and naming opportunities, team-specific Excellence Funds, the Women’s Athletics General Fund and the Competitive Excellence Fund.
For more information and exclusive content on the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team, follow @VandyWBB on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
