LOS ANGELES – On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced that Vanderbilt women’s basketball sophomore Mikayla Blakes was named a finalist for the 2026 John R. Wooden Award and was selected to the 10-member Wooden All-American team.
Blakes is the first Vanderbilt women’s basketball player to be named a finalist for the Wooden Award, which has annually given to the best women’s college basketball player in the country since 2004. She is joined by Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong of Connecticut, Lauren Betts of UCLA and Madison Booker of Texas.
The Vanderbilt guard was also one of 10 players selected to the 2026 Wooden Award All-America team. Blakes was joined by the other four Wooden Award finalists on the Wooden All-America team, along with Audi Crooks (Iowa State), Joyce Edwards (South Carolina), Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame), Flau’jae Johnson (LSU) and Olivia Miles (TCU).
The winner of the 2026 John R. Wooden Award will be announced at the Wooden Awards Ceremony presented by Principal in Los Angeles on April 10. The event will air nationwide on ESPN U starting at 8 p.m. CT.
Blakes, who was also named to the Team USA April training camp earlier on Tuesday, 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 and set the NCAA’s all-time sophomore scoring record.
The guard has been racking up the awards during the 2025-26 postseason. Blakes has been selected as a first-team All-American by the Associated Press, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, The Athletic, USA Today, ESPN and The Sporting News. The sophomore guard was named the 2025-26 SEC Player of the Year by both the league’s coaches and USA Today, and All-SEC first team by both outlets. Additionally, she is a finalist for the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year and the Wade Trophy.
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.
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