Dores Stay Hot – Vanderbilt Commodores

No. 7/6 Commodores have all five starters score 15-plus points in a 99-68 victory over Missouri on Thursday night
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 7/6 Vanderbilt women’s basketball team had all five starters score in double figures, as the Commodores caged the Missouri Tigers, 99-68, at Memorial Gymnasium on Thursday in SEC action.
All five Vandy starters scored 15-plus points in the win over Missouri. It is the first time since at least the 1999-00 season that the Dores have had all five starters score 15-plus points. It is only the second time over the last 26-plus seasons that an SEC team has accomplished the feat, as Arkansas also had all five starters score 15-plus points against Florida on Jan. 5, 2023.
With the victory, Vanderbilt continues its second-best start in program history, as the Commodores are now 16-0 to open the 2025-26 season. Vandy is 3-0 in SEC play for the first time since the 2023-24 campaign. Only the 1992-93 Final Four team has gotten off to a better start to a season in school history, as that squad won its first 17 contests.
Sophomore Mikayla Blakes led all scorers on Thursday, as the All-American dropped a game-high 20 points in the win. It marks the guard’s fifth-straight game with 20-plus points. Blakes also extends her double-digit scoring streak to 35 games, which extends the second-longest streak by a Commodore since 1999-00. The Somerset, New Jersey, native dished out a game-best six assists and had a pair of steals.
Freshman Aubrey Galvan registered a career-high 19 points against the Tigers. The first-year point guard handed out four assists and collected a game-high five steals. The trio of Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda, Justine Pissott and Sacha Washington each had 15 points in the win.  Washington also collected her fourth double-double of the season with a 16-rebound, 15-point effort.
Tonight’s victory marks the program’s first win as a top-10 ranked team since the 2006-07 season. The last time Vandy posted a victory while being ranked in the top 10 came in the 2007 SEC Tournament Championship game, when the then No. 9 Dores posted a 51-45 victory over LSU in Duluth, Georgia, to win the program’s fifth SEC Tournament title.
It’s Vanderbilt’s first win as a top-10 team at Memorial Gym in over 18 years. The last time the Dores posted a victory as a top-10 team came on Dec. 15, 2007, when Vandy knocked off Austin Peay, 84-50.
Both teams traded blows over the first quarter and a half, as Missouri clung to a 35-34 lead after a 3-point field goal at the 3:34 mark of the second stanza. Vanderbilt closed the frame on a 14-2 run to take a double-digit lead into the half at 48-37. Vandy extended its lead throughout the final two quarters, as the Dores led by as many as 36 points before securing the 31-point victory over Missouri.
The Commodores shot 50.6 percent from the floor in the victory. Vanderbilt held a 54-22 edge in points in the paint and won the rebounding battle 43-32. The Dores forced Missouri into 24 turnovers, which Vandy turned into 37 points off turnovers.
Head Coach Shea Ralph on the Win
“I probably sound like a broken record by this point, but I thought it was a great team win. We didn’t start well, and we had to grind it out a little bit in the beginning, but that’s basketball. Every night is not going to be your night. If you have a great team, then you don’t have to worry about that, because it might be someone else’s night. Our energy and attitudes can’t change, and we have to play team basketball to accomplish the things we want to accomplish this year.
I’m really proud of this team, because they haven’t been in the position they were in tonight. We upset a top-five team for the first time since I’ve been here on Sunday. Then we turned around and played another game on Thursday.  You wonder what that’s going to look like, and I thought they did a really good job at taking care of business on our home court. We’ll take a 30-point SEC win any day of the week.”
Up Next
The No. 7/6 Commodores now take to the road for three-straight games. The extended excursion begins on Sunday, as Vanderbilt travels to Texas A&M for a Sunday afternoon contest that tips off at 2 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
Dore Notes
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