BLACKSBURG, Va. – The 2023-24 Vanderbilt women’s basketball season came to an end Friday, as the No. 12-seeded Commodores fell to No. 5-seed Baylor, 80-63, in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Vanderbilt’s 2023-24 season comes to an end with a 23-10 overall record. The 23 wins are the most for Vanderbilt since the 2011-12 campaign, matching that team’s win total. Vanderbilt earned its first March Madness bid since the 2014 NCAA Tournament. The Commodores collected their first win in the NCAA Tournament in 11 seasons with Wednesday’s 72-68 victory over No. 12-seed Columbia in the First Four round.
Junior Iyana Moore extended her double-digit scoring streak to a season-best seven games with a 15-point performance against the Bears. Moore ends the 2023-24 campaign scoring 10-plus points in 18 of the last 21 games.
Graduate student Jordyn Cambridge ended her six-year Vanderbilt career with a 14-point performance, while she dished out six assists and collected three steals. The Nashville, Tennessee, native ends her Vandy career as the only Commodore to record 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists, and 300 steals in their career. Cambridge finishes her collegiate career as Vanderbilt’s all-time leader in steals with 350 career steals, which also puts her in a tie with Alabama’s Niesa Johnson (1992-95) for seventh on the SEC all-time steals list.
Freshman Khamil Pierre rounded out the trio of double-digit scorers for the Dores, as she tallied 11 points. It is the 14th time this season that Pierre has registered double-digit points.
Vanderbilt shot 41.5 percent from the floor in the loss, while Baylor connected on 46.2 percent of its shots. The Dores collected 11 total steals in the contest and dished out 14 assists. The Bears led for nearly 39 minutes of game time.
How It Happened
Baylor pressured the Commodores into four turnovers early in the first quarter and used a 9-0 run to take a 14-4 lead that forced Vanderbilt to call a timeout at the 5:38 mark. Baylor got another layup out of the timeout before Vandy stopped the run with back-to-back layups from Moore and Pierre. The Bears responded with eight-straight points to push the deficit to 24-8. Vanderbilt scored the final four points of the opening frame to make it a 24-12 contest going into the second quarter.
The Bears pushed their advantage back out to 14 points at 30-16 to open the second stanza. Vanderbilt responded by going on a 7-0 run that made it a 30-23 contest and forced Baylor to call a timeout of its own. The Dores rolled off four more points after the BU timeout to make it a one-possession game at 30-27 after a steal and layup from Pierre with four minutes remaining before the half. Baylor went on a 7-3 spurt to push its lead back out to nine at 41-32, but Cambridge hit a layup right before the halftime buzzer to make it a 41-34 affair going into the locker room.
Baylor scored six of the first eight points to open the third, as the Vanderbilt deficit extended back out to double digits at 47-36. The Bears maintained a double-digit advantage for the remainder for the frame, as Vandy went into the final stanza trailing 69-49.
Vanderbilt couldn’t overcome the double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter, as the Bears led by as many as 25 points in the final stanza before closing the game with 17-point loss.
Head Coach Shea Ralph on the Result
“I want to congratulate Baylor. I think they played as well as I’ve seen them play for a long time, and that’s how you want your team playing in March. While I’m disappointed in the loss, because you come here to win and we were here with a purpose. I am really, really proud of my team. Proud of our university and proud of our program. I couldn’t be any prouder of our team and I’m looking forward to next year, because this is just the beginning. This is a building block. We’re going somewhere special. Hopefully we’ve been able to show that and represent Vanderbilt in the right way here. I couldn’t be more proud to be the coach of this team and to represent Vanderbilt in the NCAA Tournament. I am very grateful.”
Up Next
With the loss, Vanderbilt’s season comes to an end. The Commodores conclude the 2023-24 season with a 23-10 overall record. The 23 wins are the most for Vanderbilt since the 2011-12 campaign, matching that team’s win total.
Dore Notes
- Iyanna Moore finished with 15 points, marking her seventh-straight game scoring in double figures. She led Vandy in scoring for the 14th time this season.
- Jordyn Cambridge added 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists, marking the eighth game this season with five-plus rebounds and five-plus assists.
- Cambridge finished with three steals, marking her seventh-straight game with multiple steals. She is now tied for seventh on the SEC’s all-time steals list with 350.
- Cambridge ends her career 10th all-time in assists at Vandy with 338.
- The Nashville native ends her Vanderbilt career as the only Commodore to collect 1,000 points, 50 0rebounds, 400 assists and 300 steals.
- Khamil Pierre also scored double figures with 11 points, her fourth game in the last five scoring at least 10 points, including all three postseason contests. Pierre also had two steals, recording at least one steal in each postseason appearance.
- Off the bench, Jordyn Oliver grabbed seven rebounds, the most since she grabbed seven against Auburn (1.18.24).
- Oliver finished with nine points, two assists, one block and one steal.
- The Commodores scored 30 points in the paint, marking the sixth-straight game with 20-plus points in the lane.
- Vanderbilt’s 23 wins this season are the most since 2011-12, matching that team’s win total.
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