NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt women’s basketball sophomore Mikayla Blakes was named to The Athletic preseason All-America first team on Tuesday afternoon.
Blakes, who was named an All-American by six different publications during her freshman season, was named to The Athletic All-America second team at the end of the 2024-25 campaign. It is the second preseason honor that the Somerset, New Jersey, native has received on Tuesday, as she was also named to the Ann Meyers-Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Award preseason watch list by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
The Vanderbilt sophomore was joined by UCLA’s Lauren Betts, Texas’ Madison Booker, Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo and UConn’s Sarah Strong on The Athletic preseason All-America first team.
Blakes, who scored 40 points against Memphis in exhibition action on Monday night in the 2025 Hoops for St. Jude Tip Off Classic at FedExForum, was named preseason first-team All-SEC by the league’s coaches and media. Blakes averaged 23.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.4 steals per game a season ago and earned All-SEC first team honors to go along with being named the SEC Freshman of the Year by the league’s coaches and SEC Newcomer of the Year by USA Today.
The guard was named the USBWA Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Year last season, making her the first Commodore to win a National Freshman of the Year honor from any publication. Her 23.3 points per game average ranked first among all NCAA Division I freshmen, while she led all frosh nationally in seven different categories. She also posted the second-highest scoring average (23.3 ppg) in a season in school history and scored the second-most points (769).
She set the NCAA Division I single-game scoring record for a freshman by scoring 55 points in an overtime win at Auburn on Feb. 16, 2025. Blakes twice set the SEC and Vanderbilt single-game scoring records last season, as she first had 53 points at Florida on Jan. 30, then topped that performance with a 55-point effort at Auburn. She is the second NCAA Division I player in NCAA history to score 53-plus points in multiple games in a season and the first since the 1988-89 campaign.
The No. 19/21-ranked Vanderbilt women’s basketball team opens the 2025-26 season on Nov. 3, as the Commodores travel to Paris, France, to face California at Oui-Play Paris. Tipoff against the Golden Bears is set for 1:30 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
For more information and exclusive content on the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team, follow @VandyWBB on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X.
