NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A putback from freshman Mikayla Blakes with 0.8 seconds left on the clock lifted the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team to a thrilling 71-70 victory over No. 15/15-ranked Tennessee at Memorial Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon.
The Dores trailed Tennessee 70-69 with 4.9 seconds remaining in the contest. Vanderbilt called a timeout to advance the ball.
Out of the break, sophomore Khamil Pierre drove down the lane with a defender on her hip and went up for a layup with 2.7 seconds left on the clock. The ball rimmed out and found the hands of Blakes, who perfectly timed her jump over a Tennessee defender to corral the rebound. In one swift motion, the freshman glided through the air and gently tipped the ball back into the basket to give the Commodores the 1-point victory over their in-state rivals.
Blakes scored a game-high 23 points in the victory over the No. 15-ranked Lady Vols. Pierre also had a 20-plus point performance against Tennessee, as she registered 21 points. Pierre’s 21-point effort on Sunday pushed her double-digit scoring streak to 21 games. Senior Iyana Moore extended her double-digit scoring streak to a career-best 12 games with a 17-point effort. Moore also hit a game-best three 3-point field goals on Sunday.
Vanderbilt’s victory over the No. 15/15-ranked Lady Vols marks the Commodores’ first win against a ranked team since knocking off No. 15/21-ranked Florida, 63-59, back on Feb. 24, 2022, at Memorial Gymnasium. It is also the second time the Dores have beaten a ranked opponent in the Ralph era.
Sunday’s win marked the 900th victory for the Vanderbilt women’s basketball program. The Commodores end their current three-game losing streak as Vanderbilt improves to 15-4 overall and 2-3 in SEC play. Vandy also snaps its eight-game skid against Tennessee. The last time the Dores collected a win over the Lady Volunteers came on Feb. 28, 2019, with a 76-69 victory in Knoxville. Vanderbilt also posted its first win over Tennessee in Memorial Gym since the 2013-14 campaign when the Commodores won, 74-63, on Jan. 12, 2014.
The Dores shot 37.1 percent from the field and 31.6 percent from behind the arc. Each team hit six 3-pointers in the game, as Vanderbilt limited Tennessee to half of what the Lady Vols average per game this season. Vandy forced the Lady Volunteers into 10 turnovers, which led to a 13-10 edge in points off turnovers for the Dores. Vanderbilt also came up clutch at the free throw line on Sunday, as the Dores went 19-22 from the charity stripe.
How It Happened
The Dores opened the contest by hitting three 3-point field goals to jump out to a 9-3 advantage. The Commodores maintained its lead for nearly the entire first quarter, but back-to-back trifectas from the Lady Volunteers gave Tennessee a brief 21-19 advantage with 38 seconds left in the opening frame. A layup from graduate Jordyn Oliver knotted the game up at 21-21 going into the second quarter.
After a scoreless opening 1:15, Tennessee got on the board with three consecutive free throws to go up 24-21. A 7-0 run by the Commodores put them back in front at 28-24 after five-straight points from Pierre made it a 28-26 contest. A Tennessee layup at the 4:16 mark brought Vanderbilt’s scoring streak to an end, however, the Dores ended the frame by running off nine-consecutive points to take a double-digit lead at 37-26 going into halftime.
Vanderbilt’s lead got cut to 39-34 after Tennessee scored eight of the first 10 points in the third quarter. Vandy responded with an 8-4 spurt to push its lead back to double figures at 47-37. The Commodore lead was once again cut in half after a 3-pointer and layup from the Lady Volunteers made it a 47-42 game with 2:26 left in the frame. Vanderbilt closed the third by scoring seven of the stanza’s final 10 points to take a 54-45 lead into the fourth.
A Pierre free throw gave Vanderbilt a 10-point advantage at 55-45 to open the fourth quarter. A 12-2 run by the Lady Volunteers tied things up at 57-all with 5:29 left in the game. Sophomore Madison Greene hit a jumper that put the Dores back up 59-57, but Tennessee scored seven-straight points after that to go up 64-59 with 2:55 remaining.
From that point, Vanderbilt would go on a 10-3 run to go back in front 69-68 after Pierre calmly hit a pair of free throws with 31 seconds remaining. Tennessee responded with a layup to take a 70-69 lead with four ticks left on the clock. Out of a timeout, Pierre attempted the game-winning layup but drew the front of the rim. Blakes crashed the boards and perfectly timed a putback tip-in to seal the victory for 71-70 victory for the Dores.
Head Coach Shea Ralph on the Result
“I’m not usually at a loss for words, but the resiliency that I saw in our team today was something I knew this team had. It’s reflective of the program that we are building here and the university overall.
“We talk a lot in our locker room about the ways that we’ve grown, but we’re not satisfied. There is going to be an ebb-and-flow to success; it’s never going to be linear. I told them before this game that there was a fork in the road for us. We’ve had a couple of tough losses, somewhere we got smacked and one on the road where we played a really good team close. Our players told me that they were tired of just being right there. They want to be there, and I think they took a big step in that direction today.”
Up Next
The Commodores close their two-game homestand on Thursday as Vanderbilt welcomes in Arkansas. Tipoff against the Razorbacks is set for 6:30 p.m., and streams live on SEC Network+.
Dore Notes
- Freshman Mikayla Blakes finished with a game-high 23 points, marking her fifth-straight game in double figures
- It is also Blakes’ 11th game of the year with 20-plus, which is the most by a Vanderbilt freshman since 1999-00
- Sophomore Khamil Pierre registered 21 points on the day to post her 11th 20-point performance of the season and 12th of her career
- Pierre extended her double-digit scoring streak to 21 games which is the fourth-longest streak scoring streak by a Dore since 1999-00
- Senior Iyana Moore has also extended her double-digit scoring streak to 12 games, the longest streak of her career, finishing with 17 points on the day
- Moore moved into eighth place on Vanderbilt’s all-time 3-point field goals made list, as she has now made 181 career 3-pointers
- The Commodores outscored Tennessee in second-chance points, 10-8, including Blakes’ game-winning put back with 0.8 seconds left
- Vanderbilt’s last top-15 win came in Shea Ralph’s first season against No.15/21 Florida on Feb. 24, 2022
- Vanderbilt held Tennessee to a season-low 70 points
- The Commodores held Tennessee to just five second-quarter points, the least amount by the Lady Vols this season
- Vandy also held the Volunteers to 26 points at the break, the least points scored by the orange since Dec. 7 against Iowa
- With today’s victory over Tennessee, the Vanderbilt women’s basketball program has won 900 games
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