Vanderbilt Commodores Star Freshman Claims Latest Weekly Basketball Award
Vanderbilt women's basketball player Mikayla Blakes continues to rack up the weekly awards this season, as she was named the Tennessee Sports Writers Association’s player of the week for her play last week.
The Commodores (14-2, 1-1 SEC) are preparing to take on Ole Miss (10-4, 1-1) at 5 p.m. central on Thursday at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+ and on radio at 94.9 The Fan.
This is Blakes’ first TSWA award of the season. She’s won weekly awards from other outlets. Her teammate, sophomore Khamil Pierre, was selected to the John R. Wooden Award midseason top 25 watch list earlier this week. Pierre has won this award twice this season.
In two games last week, Blakes averaged 30.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 2.0 steals to help Vanderbilt go 1-1 in its first week of SEC play.
In her first SEC contest against Georgia, she scored a Vanderbilt freshman-record 36 points in a 108-82 win over Georgia last Thursday. She followed that up by scoring 24 points in her first game against a ranked team, as she scored 24 points against No. 16 Kentucky, which was a loss for the Commodores.
With her performance against Georgia, she broke the record set by Barbara Brackman, which stood for more than 42 years. She scored 34 against Tennessee on Feb. 26, 1982. That was the first season the NCAA sponsored women’s basketball. It was also the most points scored by a women’s Division I freshman this season.
Blakes remains the nation’s leading scorer among freshmen, as she’s averaging 20.6 points per game going into the Ole Miss showdown. She has scored 20 or more points in 10 straight contests as the Commodores prepare to face the Rebels.
Blakes and the Commodores are playing their first SEC road game of the season, something Vanderbilt was good at last season. The program won a record six road games last season and have sone four straight SEC road games dating back to last season.
So far, Vanderbilt is 3-0 in true road games in the 2024-25 season but haven’t played a road game since facing Dayton on Dec. 19.
The Commodores are 9-15 all-time at The Pavilion against Ole Miss and have not won there since 2018.
All-time, Vandy has a 35-20 lead, with Ole Miss having won the last three games. With head coach Shea Ralph, the Commodores are 0-3 against the Rebels. The two teams will meet against in Nashville on Feb. 2.
