COLUMBIA, S.C. – The No. 5/4-ranked Vanderbilt women’s basketball team was handed its first loss of the 2025-26 season, as the Commodores had their school-record 20-game winning streak came to an end with a 103-74 defeat at No. 2/2-ranked South Carolina on Sunday afternoon.
The loss drops the Commodores to 20-1 overall and 6-1 in SEC play this season. Though Vandy’s school-record 20-game winning streak to begin the season comes to an end, the Dores are still off to their best start in program history through 21 games, equaling the 20-1 mark set by the 1992-93 Final Four team.
Sophomore Mikayla Blakes led a pair of double-digit scorers for the Dores, as the All-American registered a game-high 23 points. The Somerset, New Jersey, native pulled down a team-best seven rebounds and dished out a team-high five assists. Blakes extended her double-digit scoring streak to 40 games, which is the longest active streak in the SEC and third-longest in the nation.
Graduate Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda scored double-digits with a 13-point performance against South Carolina. The 6-2 guard hit a career-high three 3-pointers. It is just the third time Mwenentanda has hit multiple 3-point field goals in a contest during her 124-game career.
All nine Commodores who played on Sunday scored. It marks the first time since the win over Texas Southern on Dec. 20 (12 Dores) that every Vanderbilt player who played in the contest scored.
No. 2/2 South Carolina came out swinging and built a 17-point lead at the end of the first quarter at 33-16. The Commodores fell behind by 21 points midway through the second stanza, but Vandy used a 15-5 run at the end of the frame to cut its deficit to 11 points at 55-44 going into halftime.
Vanderbilt opened the third quarter with back-to-back buckets to make it a single-digit contest at 55-48. The Gamecocks scored 15 of the game’s next 17 points to push their lead back out to double figures, 70-50. USC maintained a double-digit advantage over the Dores for the remainder of the contest.
The Commodores shot 45.9 percent from the floor in the loss and committed a season-high 20 turnovers, 16 of which came in the first two quarters of play. South Carolina shot 61.5 percent from the floor and outscored Vanderbilt 56-24 in the points in the paint.
Head Coach Shea Ralph on the Result
“I think we can learn a ton from a game like this. There’s a lot that we can take. It was an incredible environment. Credit to South Carolina, because I thought they played really well, maybe the best they played all season. They shot the ball really well. We turned the ball over 16 times in the first half, which was going make it hard for us to win a game like that. Also, this doesn’t negate the fact that we’ve been really good up to this point. But this is why you want to play games like this, you know, on the road in an incredible environment. There are all kinds of things that we can’t control that are happening right now, but the most important part to me is how we respond to it, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”
Up Next
The No. 5/4 Commodores continue their brief two-game SEC road trip on Thursday, as Vanderbilt heads to No. 18/18-ranked Ole Miss. Tipoff against the Rebels is set for 6:30 p.m. CT and streams live on SEC Network+.
Dore Notes
- Vanderbilt’s school-record 20-game winning streak comes to an end
- Vandy’s 20-1 mark ties a school record for best start to a season through 21 games, matching the 1992-93 Final Four team
- The Dores have now lost 19-straight games to South Carolina, while Vanderbilt is now 21-25 all-time against the Gamecocks
- All nine Commodores who played on Sunday scored at least three points against the Gamecocks
- It is the first time since Dec. 20, 2025, vs. Texas Southern that Vandy had every player who played score
- Sophomore Mikayla Blakes recorded her 16th game with 20-plus points this season
- Blakes extends her double-digit scoring streak to 40 games, which is the longest active streak in the SEC and third-longest in the nation
- Graduate Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda collects her seventh double-digit scoring performance of the season
- Senior Justine Pissott made two 3-pointers to extend her consecutive games with a 3-point field goal streak to 22 games dating back to last season
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