Vanderbilt women’s basketball sophomore guard Mikayla Blakes picked up more hardware March 18 when she was named an Associated Press first-team All-American.
She is the first Commodores player to earn that honor in 23 years. Chantelle Anderson was named All-American in 2003.
This is Blakes’ fifth first-team All-America selection this season. She also was designated as such by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, ESPN, The Athletic and The Sporting News.
The reigning SEC Player of the Year averaged a nation-high 27 points per game in Division I, to go along with 2.9 steals and 4.4 assists while shooting 45.8% from the floor, including 36.1% from beyond the 3-point line.
Twelve times she scored at least 30 points in a game, the most of any player in the country.
Th announcement comes two days after Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph was named national coach of the year by two outlets.
Chantelle Anderson (2001-03), Barbara Brackman (1982), Karen Booker (1987), Harriet Brumfield (1982), Jackie Cowan (1983, 1986), Deborah Denton (1988), Heidi Gillingham (1993), Ashley McElhiney (2003), Sheri Sam (1995-96), Wendy Scholtens (1989-90).
The No. 2 seed Commodores will face No. 15 seed High Point in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The Commodores will play the Panthers at 6 p.m. CT at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville.
The game will be aired on ESPN News.
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina.
