Longhorns Women's Basketball
Texas women's basketball entered this week looking for a big road win. The Longhorns did not find one Thursday in Nashville.
Ranked fourth in the Associated Press poll, Texas had no answer for Vanderbilt guard Mikayla Blakes and couldn't find any solutions for Aubrey Galvan either in an 86-70 loss to the fifth-ranked Commodores at Memorial Gymnasium. Blakes scored 34 points and Galvan added 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists to lead Vanderbilt, which had already beaten a top-five opponent at home in then-No. 5 LSU last month.
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Texas (23-3, 8-3 SEC) is now 0-3 in road games against ranked opponents. Last month, the Longhorns were upended in then-No. 12 LSU and then-No. 2 South Carolina's gyms by a combined eight points.
MORE: Meet the men who are getting the Longhorns ready for a title run
Texas grabbed an early three-point lead, but Vanderbilt (24-2, 10-2) never trailed after a Galvan jumper gave the Commodores a 9-7 advantage with 6 minutes, 6 seconds left in the first quarter. Vanderbilt was up 47-30 at halftime, and it led by as many as 26 points after halftime.
Before Thursday, a Texas team that ranked seventh nationally in scoring defense (54.8 points per game) had not let an opponent score more than 71 points. Just one team had shot better than 50% from the field against UT, which ranked 45th in field goal defense (37.1%). The Longhorns allowed their most points since the 2023-24 season while Vanderbilt made 50.9% of its shots.
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Blakes registered her fourth straight 30-point performance while knocking down nine of her 19 shots and 13 of her 15 free throws. The sophomore sensation became just the sixth player to score 30 points against Texas since Vic Schaefer took over in Austin ahead of the 2020-21 season:
Vanderbilt also got 11 points, six rebounds and four steals from Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda. A senior guard, Mwenentanda spent the first three years of her college career in Austin. All-American forward Madison Booker scored 20 points to lead Texas, which missed 48 of its 78 shots and 12 of its 15 3-pointers. Texas senior point guard Rori Harmon sat for the final 15 minutes, and fellow starters Jordan Lee (two minutes) and Justice Carlton (zero minutes) were also absent for much of the second half.
Texas will look to rebound on Sunday at No. 22 Tennessee (16-6, 8-2). The Longhorns are 8-3 against ranked opponents.
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Behind Mikayla Blakes' 25 points and 18 points from Aubrey Galvan, Vanderbilt is closing in on another significant win at home. Back on Jan. 4 at Memorial Gymnasium, Vanderbilt recorded a 65-61 win over a LSU team that was ranked fifth at the time.
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With backup point guard Bryanna Preston contributing two points and two assists within the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, Texas opened the final frame on a 6-0 run and has cut the Vanderbilt lead down to 12 points. Texas starting point guard Rori Hamon has not played since the 5:04 mark of the third quarter.
With five fouls, Texas center Breya Cunningham's night ended with 7.1 seconds left in the third quarter. And after Vanderbilt expended its lead to as many as 26 points in the third quarter by shooting 42.9% on its field-goal attempts and committing just three turnovers, the Longhorns might be ready to call it a night as well.
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While allowing 54.8 points per game, Texas entered today as the No. 7 scoring defense in the country. The Longhorns had also not let a single player scored more than the 24 points that Penn's Mataya Gayle tallied on Nov. 30, but Vanderbilt star guard Mikayla Blakes already has 26 points.
Vanderbilt quickly opened the second half with a 3-pointer from Mikayla Blakes and a Aubrey Galvan basket, and the Commodores are pulling further ahead of Texas. Vanderbilt has stretched its lead to as many as 26 points in this quarter.
While attempting to rally, Texas is shooting just 22.2% from the field in the third quarter.
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Before this media timeout, Blakes knocked down her second 3-pointer of the game. She has scored 21 points so far tonight on 8-of-16 shooting.
Texas was dominated by the home team during the first half and now faces its largest deficit of the season. Vanderbilt committed 10 turnovers over the first two quarters but shot 62.1% from the field and knocked down five 3-pointers. Meanwhile, Texas missed 27 shots during a first half in which it led by no more than three points.
She’s like that. pic.twitter.com/VTJVz5ihlH
Texas had earned a halftime lead in 23 of its previous 25 games, and it was also locked in a 32-32 tie at the midway point of a game last month at South Carolina. Before tonight, Texas trailed by five points during the only time it was losing at halftime.
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Three days after they combined for 64 points against No. 10 Oklahoma, Vanderbilt guards Mikayla Blakes and Aubrey Galvan have scored 28 points so far tonight. Jordan Lee (11 points) and Madison Booker (nine points) are the only Longhorns who have scored more than four points so far.
Texas pulled within seven points, but a 7-0 run by Vanderbilt has pushed the Longhorns into the danger zone. Vanderbilt freshman Aubrey Galvan has scored a game-high 11 points and grabbed four rebounds.
Texas has chipped a little into the Vanderbilt lead in the second quarter. One problem for the Commodores in this session has been turnovers. Over the first 116 seconds of the second quarter, Vanderbilt has committed four turnovers and managed just one shot.
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Vanderbilt ended the first quarter with its fourth 3-pointer of the game, and that deep shot was knocked down by Texas transfer Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda. Mwenentanda spent the first three years of her college career at Texas, and she was 1-for-18 on the 3-pointers she attempted last season. Against her old team so far, Mwenentanda has scored six points and grabbed three rebounds.
AND NDJAKALENGA SENDS US INTO THE SECOND QUARTER pic.twitter.com/B9ISEm8QY4
Texas shot just 6-for-19 from the floor in the first quarter while Vanderbilt boasted a 75.0 shooting percentage. Jordan Lee had six first-quarter points to lead the UT offense.
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Two 3-pointers from Vanderbilt guard Justine Pissott and a deep shot by freshman Aubrey Galvan has staked the Commodores to an early lead. Vanderbilt has made three of the four 3-pointers that it has attempted so far while UT has made just three total field goals.
“OH. MY. GOODNESS. It’s raining threes by Justine Pissott!” ☔️ pic.twitter.com/kxFAGpInsJ
Much has been made about UT's lack of 3-point shooting this season, and the Longhorns have knocked down just one shot from behind the arch so far. But the Longhorns' lack of 3-point shooting – Texas ranks 338th among 359 Division I offenses with its average of 4.0 3-pointers per game – has been mitigated by the fact that it is allowing just 4.4 3-pointers per game.
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G Rori Harmon
G Jordan Lee
F Justice Carlton
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F Breya Cunningham
F Madison Booker
G Mikayla Blakes
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G Aubrey Galvan
G Justine Pissott
G Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda
F Sasha Washington
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When:
Where: Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tenn.
TV/radio:
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More:
Texas Longhorns center Kyla Oldacre (00) gestures to the referee as Texas takes on Kentucky at The Moody Center in Austin Monday, Feb. 9, 2026.
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A University of Montana graduate, Danny has spent the past 18 years with the American-Statesman sports department and he currently covers the University of Texas football team and athletic department. He is a devoted husband, father and Colorado Rockies fan.
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