NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The 2021-22 season was a memorable journey full of record breaking performances and incredible victories under the direction of first year head coach Shea Ralph. Vanderbilt women’s basketball, through the season’s highs and lows, has begun to return the magic to Memorial Gymnasium.
Preseason
Ralph was named the sixth head coach in Vanderbilt women’s basketball history April 13, 2021, after a storied playing career at the University of Connecticut.
“I know it’s not always going to be unicorns and rainbows, but I feel like I’ll always have the support around me that even in those hard days we’ll make it fun and understand it’s part of the journey,” Ralph said. “We have everything we need here to be great. And I know what that looks like. And we have it all here at Vanderbilt.”
Ralph got right to work with bringing in the, “right people to help elevate the standard of Vanderbilt women’s basketball.”
The first wave of hirings to join coaching staff was led by associate head coach – Tom Garrick – and a pair of assistant coaches in Ashley Earley and Kevin DeMille. Additionally, Ralph continued to assemble a top tier ensemble of professionals to surround the program with the hirings of Christina Foggie and Kyla Irwin in important support staff roles.
Chris Brann, David Myckowiak and Leah Dusterhoft completed coach Ralph’s inaugural staff. With all of the pieces in place, it was time to begin building the new culture of Vanderbilt women’s basketball. Koko Nelson joined the staff in January 2022 as the director of recruiting after serving in similar role for first-year head football coach Clark Lea.
Nonconference
With a nonconference slate of 14 games, the Commodores wasted no time getting the first win of the 2021-22 for Ralph, the first as a head coach. Vanderbilt hosted Gardner-Webb on Nov. 9 and routed the Runnin’ Bulldogs 75-59, holding a commanding lead for the majority of the contest.
When asked after the game, Ralph responded, “it was an experience I’ll never forget.”
After a pair of tough battles, Vandy bounced back in a resounding way against Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State, respectively, before heading to the U.S. Virgin Islands for the 2021 Paradise Jam. The three-game tournament consisted of games against then-No. 9 Arizona, Rutgers and DePaul in the span of three days.
While the Commodores only won one game, defeating Rutgers 51-40, victories came in the form of resiliency displayed by Ralph’s young team. Vanderbilt commenced the tournament taking a top-10 ranked program to the brink, falling in the final seconds on a hope-and-a-prayer make by Arizona giving the Wildcats a 48-46 victory.
Against DePaul the Commodores proved their ability to play in tough and gritty games in a very tight schedule, falling 91-74.
Jordyn Cambridge was named to the 2021 Paradise Jam All-Tournament Team.
The resume continued to build for Vandy as they concluded the remainder of the schedule with five wins and only one loss, including a four-game winning streak prior to the start of conference play.
Most notably, the Commodores’ tone setting victory over Alabama State primed them for the elite league play to come. The 94-42 win over the Hornets was made possible by freshman Iyana Moore‘s record breaking 3-point performance.
The Commodores bombarded the Hornets with 17 3-pointers – breaking a single-game program record set in 1993 – and got nine triples from Moore. The freshman finished with a career-high 32 points and her nine 3-pointers set a Vanderbilt single-game record breaking the previous mark of eight held by Foggie, Meredith Marsh and Abi Ramsey.
Moore would be named the SEC Co-Freshman of the Week for her performance.
Southeastern Conference Play
Vanderbilt opened conference play at home against Arkansas and, with a few crucial free throws down the stretch, defeated the Razorbacks 54-51.
The Commodores’ battle tested mentality developed through the tough stretch of Mississippi State, then No. 5 Tennessee, then No. 12 LSU, Missouri and the overall No. 1 South Carolina. The Dores contended in one of the toughest conference slates, with a differential of less than 20-points in four of the five games.
During this timeframe Kristina Nelson was named the director of recruiting after serving in a similar position with first-year head football coach Clark Lea. She joined Lea’s program in 2021 and helped the program land one its best recruiting classes in program history.
A few days later, Cambridge was named to the Naismith Women’s Defensive Player of the Year watch list.
The winning drought ended Jan. 27 when Kentucky came to town. In a back-and-forth affair the Commodores emerged victorious 65-57. The game had 10 lead changes and was tied twice.
The Vandy lead, at its largest, was 10 points in the third period. Vanderbilt’s notorious defense forced 25 Wildcat miscues and notched 23 points from those errors. Fast break (10), paint (26) and bench points (9) were all tied.
Vanderbilt followed this performance with another victory, this time an 81-66 route of Auburn. Cambridge paced the offensive effort for the Commodores with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds. With back-to-back home SEC wins, the Commodores headed to Georgia to face the then No. 14 Bulldogs.
While Vandy experienced a six-game dry spell, the differential stayed at less than 20-points per game against Georgia, Alabama (overtime), Texas A&M, then No. 13 Tennessee, Kentucky and Ole Miss, respectively.
There were still plenty of bright spots for the home team. Sacha Washington’s game began to blossom at just the right time for Vandy, and with an average of 8.5 points per game and 9.5 rebounds, she earned SEC Freshman of the Week.
Foggie was inducted into the South Jersey Basketball Hall of Fame in early February. And Cambridge reached 200 career steals during the Kentucky contest.
With only two games left in the regular season, one at home and one away, Vanderbilt looked to make some noise prior to the SEC Tournament. But, beating then No. 15 Florida would be an unthinkable feat for this Vanderbilt team — right?
The Commodores approached the game against the Gators like they did any other contest, concerned only about their performance and how they managed their own gameplay.
And, for the first time since 2020, Vanderbilt defeated a ranked opponent.
The trio of seniors garnered a gusty 63-59 win over the Gators on senior night surrounded by one of the most impactful crowds on the season, 1,783 of the Vanderbilt faithful.
“It means a lot,” Cambridge said of the win. “For us seniors to know that we all stepped up today and had each others backs.”
Long-time voice of the Commodores, Charlie Mattos, called his final home game in a thrilling fashion seeing the team he has supported for nearly 30 years win in such a big way.
In the regular season finale, Vanderbilt fell to Alabama 77-71.
In a host of days, news of seeding for the SEC Tournament was announced and the Commodores were slated the No. 13 seed. This meant a rematch with Texas A&M, the 12 seed.
Additionally, Washington earned Freshman of the Week honors again, this time for her back-to-back double-doubles which were instrumental in Vanderbilt’s win over Florida. She also aided the Commodores down the stretch in the regular-season finale against Alabama.
Lastly, Vanderbilt secured three on the All-SEC teams with Cambridge on the All-Defensive team for the second time and the duo of Moore and Washington earning a spot on the All-Freshman team.
SEC Tournament
With the Aggies due up for the Commodores and the odds favoring A&M, Vanderbilt was fired up for tournament time. The senior and captain Cambridge would not let her team be denied.
Recording the first triple-double in Vandy postseason history and just the second ever in the SEC Tournament, Cambridge lifted her team to an 85-69 redemptive victory over the 12th seeded Texas A&M.
With just 56 seconds on the clock and Cambridge needing one assist, she looked to her long-time best friend and teammate Brinae Alexander. When the next play started and the senior was trapped at midcourt by the Aggies defense, she looked up and found Alexander, a childhood friend since the fourth grade.
Alexander caught the ball, turned and fired from the left wing with a 3-pointer perhaps as pure as any other shot she has ever had in her career.
“You know that’s fate and destiny and it’s just fun to witness it,” Ralph said.
Vanderbilt advanced to the second round and drew the fifth-seeded Gators of Florida. In a heart-breaking one-point loss, the Commodores fell 53-52.
But the Dores weren’t done just yet.
WNIT
Vanderbilt was selected to compete as on of the 64 teams in the postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
“The goal is to play for championships and play in the postseason,” Ralph said. “I’m really excited for our team. We’ve had some highs and lows this year but we’ve continued to battle and grow. I know our entire team wants to continue to play, so the fact that we have another championship that we can compete for is extremely exciting, not only for our team but for our program.”
This served as the first time the Commodores were set to compete in the postseason since 2014, when Vanderbilt faced Arizona State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, and the first WNIT appearance since 1984. Led by a career-high points performance from Cambridge the Commodores trounced Murray State 73-47 in the opening round of the WNIT.
The second round was more of the same from Vanderbilt. The freshmen duo of Moore and Washington led the way for the Commodores against the Flames, 71-45.
Falling just a few points shy of victory in Round 3, the postseason run for the Dores came to an end in a rematch against Middle Tennessee.
“Obviously disappointed for our group, but incredibly proud of how far we’ve come this year and I’m excited about the foundation that we’ve built for our program here at Vanderbilt,” Ralph said. “We understand how special this is and the opportunity to make it even more special is, obviously, my dream job.
Although falling short, the game was the latest into the month of March for Vanderbilt since 2013 when it played the NCAA Tournament. Ralph finished her inaugural season with the second-most wins, 16, at Vanderbilt. Only Jim Foster and Melanie Balcomb, who each won 22 in their respective first campaigns, won more.
