INDIANAPOLIS – On Tuesday, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) named Vanderbilt women’s basketball head coach Shea Ralph as its 2025-26 National Coach of the Year. Additionally, sophomore guard Mikayla Blakes was named to the USBWA All-America first team.
Ralph is the first Commodore head coach to receive the USBWA National Coach of the Year award since 1992-93, when Jim Foster earned the award after leading the Commodores to the Final Four. It is the fourth National Coach of the Year award for Ralph this postseason, as she also earned the distinction from ESPN, The Athletic and The Sporting News.
In her fifth season at the helm in the Music City, Ralph took a Vanderbilt team that returned just one starter from a season ago and led the Commodores to their most successful regular season in school history in 2025-26. She guided Vandy to a 27-4 overall record and a 13-3 mark in SEC games. The Dores concluded the SEC regular season tied for second place, matching the best conference finish in program history.
Ralph guided Vanderbilt to a top-five ranking in both the AP top 25 and the USA Today/WBCA coaches poll for the first time since the 2001-02 season. The Commodores spent five weeks inside the top five, while Vanderbilt has been ranked in the top 10 in both polls for 11 consecutive weeks heading into the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Vanderbilt earned a No. 2 seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament, as Memorial Gymnasium will host games in the first two rounds. It is the first time the Commodores have been a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament since 2006-07, while Memorial Gym will be hosting March Madness contests for the first time since the 2011-12 campaign.
The 13 SEC wins set the school record for most conference victories in a season and earned the No. 2 seed in the 2026 SEC Tournament, as Vanderbilt posted its highest finish in the SEC standings since 2008-09.
Meanwhile, the 27 victories are the most in a regular season in school history, while it is the fifth-most overall for a Vanderbilt women’s basketball team. The 27 wins are the most for the Dores since the 2006-07 season, when Vandy won 28 games.
Ralph developed the nation’s best backcourt this season. Sophomore guard Mikayla Blakes was named the 2025-26 SEC Player of the Year, while first-year point guard Aubrey Galvan was selected as SEC Freshman of the Year. Additionally, Blakes has been named a first-team All-American by USBWA, ESPN, The Athletic and The Sporting News.
Vanderbilt went a perfect 16-0 at Memorial Gym this season, marking the first time in program history that the Commodores went undefeated at home in a regular season. The Commodores opened 2025-26 by winning a school-record 20-straight games. Vanderbilt posted seven wins against ranked foes this season, the most in a regular season since 1995-96.
Blakes Named USBWA First-Team All-American
On Tuesday, the USBWA named Mikayla Blakes to its All-America first team. It is the second-straight USBWA All-American selection for Blakes, as the guard was named a second-team All-American last season. The sophomore joins Chanetelle Anderson as the only Vanderbilt women’s basketball player to be a multi-time USBWA All-American. Blakes becomes Vanderbilt’s first USBWA first-team All-American selection since Anderson, who earned the honor in three-straight seasons from 2001-2003.
Blakes is averaging 27.0 points, 4.4 assists and 2.9 steals per game this season. Her 27.0 points per game led NCAA Division I in scoring, while her 12 games with 30-plus points this season were the most by a player in the country. The sophomore set the SEC ablaze this season, as the All-American averaged 30.5 points per game, while shooting 46.9 percent from the floor and 39.8 percent from behind the arc in league games. Blakes had 10 of her 12 30-point efforts against SEC teams, which includes a season-high 38 points at Mississippi State on Jan. 15.
Overall, Blakes is the fourth Vanderbilt women’s basketball player to earn All-American honors from the USBWA. She joins Anderson (2000-03), Sheri Sam (1995-96) and Heidi Gillingham (1992-93).
No. 6/6-ranked Vanderbilt opens the 2026 NCAA Tournament at Memorial Gym this Saturday, as the No. 2-seeded Commodores take on No. 15-seed High Point. Tipoff against the Panthers is set for 6 p.m. CT and airs live across the country on ESPNEWS.
Fans can click the link here to purchase tickets for the first and second round NCAA Tournament games at Memorial Gym. For more information about Vanderbilt in the NCAA Tournament, click the link here.
The Anchored for Her Campaign
Vanderbilt launched the Anchored for Her campaign to honor its pioneering female student-athletes and cement the university’s place as the premier destination for women’s sports ahead of next year’s 50th anniversary of its varsity women’s teams. Bolstered by lead gifts from Vanderbilt Board of Trust members Nina Kohler and Kathleen Justice-Moore, JD’91, Anchored for Her’s initial $50 million goal will fuel investment in sustainable success for a new era of collegiate athletics through facility enhancements, endowed scholarships, coaching and staff positions, capital support and naming opportunities, team-specific Excellence Funds, the Women’s Athletics General Fund and the Competitive Excellence Fund.
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