NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt women’s basketball sophomore Mikayla Blakes has been named as a finalist for the 2025-26 Honda Award for women’s basketball, The Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards announced on Thursday.
The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the CWSA for the past 50 years, recognizing the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports and symbolizing “the best of the best in collegiate athletics.” The recipient of the sport award will become a finalist for the prestigious Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the 2026 Honda Cup, which will be presented at the Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards.
The other Honda Award finalists joining Blakes are Lauren Betts of UCLA, Madison Booker of Texas and Sarah Strong of Connecticut. The recipient will become a finalist for the prestigious Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the Class of 2026 Honda Cup, to be presented live on Monday, July 27, at 6 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network.
The four finalists were selected by a panel of experts and coaches from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). Voting for the Honda Sport Award for basketball is conducted by senior women administrators from more than 1,000 NCAA member institutions and will open after the NCAA Final Four.
Blakes is the second Vanderbilt women’s basketball player to be named a finalist for the Honda Award, as she joins Chantelle Anderson, who was a finalist for the honor during the 2001-02 season. She is joined by Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong of Connecticut, Lauren Betts of UCLA and Madison Booker of Texas. Vanderbilt women’s basketball head coach Shea Ralph won the Honda Award during the 1999-00 season.
The sophomore guard 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 WBCA, 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 has been named a finalist for the Wooden Award, 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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