ATLANTA – On Wednesday, the Women’s Basketball Coach Association named Vanderbilt women’s basketball sophomore Mikayla Blakes to its 2025-26 Wade Trophy Watch List.
It is the latest honor for Blakes. The Somerset, New Jersey, native is one of 15 players named to the Wade Trophy Watch List, which is presented to the best player in college women’s basketball.
In addition to being named to the Wade Trophy Watch List, Blakes has been named to The Athletic Preseason All-America first team and the USA TODAY Sports All-America second team. She is also on the Ann Meyers-Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year watch list and was named preseason first-team All-SEC by the league’s coaches and media. Additionally, Blakes was also named to the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy Women’s College Player of the Year watch list.
The All-American opened her sophomore campaign with a 27-point, 3-steal performance. It was Blakes’ 22nd career game with 20-plus points, while it was the 11th time she has scored 25 or more in a game at Vanderbilt. Tonight’s effort extends her double-digit scoring streak to 20-straight games dating back to last season, while it is her fifth-consecutive contest with 20-plus points.
Blakes is coming off the most successful freshman campaign in program history. She averaged 23.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.4 steals per game a season ago. Her 23.3 points per game average ranked first among all NCAA Division I freshmen, while she led first-year players nationally in seven different categories. She also posted the second-highest scoring average (23.3 ppg) in school history and the second-most points (769).
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. She was also named an All-American by six different publications during her rookie campaign.
Along with her national honors, Blakes was selected as the SEC Freshman of the Year by the league’s coaches and was named the SEC Newcomer of the Year by USA Today in 2024-25. The guard 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, 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 Wade Trophy, now in its 49th year, is the oldest and most prestigious national player of the year award in college women’s basketball. It is named in honor of the late, legendary Delta State University head coach Lily Margaret Wade, who won three consecutive national championships with the Lady Statesmen. First awarded in 1978 by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD), now known as SHAPE America, the Wade Trophy has been presented to the WBCA NCAA Division I Player of the Year since 2001.
The Wade Watch List of candidates for the Wade Trophy is composed of players selected by the WBCA NCAA Division I Awards Committee. The committee will review the list midseason to determine whether additional players will be added based on their play during the first half of the 2025-26 season. The winner of the award will be announced in April during the 2025 WBCA Convention in Phoenix, site of the 2026 NCAA Women’s Final Four.
The No. 19/21-ranked Vanderbilt women’s basketball team opens the 2025-26 home slate on Nov. 10, as the Commodores host Furman. Tipoff against the Paladins is set for 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
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