Mikayla Blakes Added to Prestigious Award Ballot: The Anchor – Sports Illustrated

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Vanderbilt women’s basketball star guard Milkayla Blakes’ season is continuing to be justified with post-regular season honors.
Monday morning, Blakes was officially named as one of the 15 players that will be on the ballot for the 2026 Wooden Award for women’s college basketball With her name on the ballot, Blakes is also eligible for Wooden All-America Team and the Wooden Award Trophy. The award is given to the most outstanding player in women’s college basketball
Blakes has been a standout player for Vanderbilt all season long. The sophomore averaged 30 points per game in conference play this season and 27 points per game along with 4.4 assists and 2.9 steals this season.
Blakes is also a finalist for the Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Shooting Guard of the Year. Blakes has set the school record for most SEC Player of the Week Awards with six of them this season.
Blakes led Vanderbilt to a school-record 27 wins with a 27-3 record during the regular season and the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament. Though the Commodores were upset by No. 7 Ole Miss in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament, they are still primed to be a host spot for the first two rounds in the NCAA Tournament.
Vanderbilt now waits for Sunday evening to see which three teams will travel to Nashville for the start of the NCAA Tournament.
179 days
There were no games played Monday.
Vanderbilt baseball vs. Indiana State, 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
AK was locked in 🔒 pic.twitter.com/zlGHvYMy7U
Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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