Vanderbilt WBB Sees its Season End in the Sweet 16 – Sports Illustrated

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No. 2 seed Vanderbilt women’s basketball saw its magical season come to a close after the Commodores lost to No. 6 seed Notre Dame 67-64 in the Sweet 16.
Vanderbilt started the game off ice cold from the floor despite not digging itself a deep hole in the first half. The Commodores started the game 1-for-10 on shots as they trailed Notre Dame 15-11 at the end of the first quarter.
But Vanderbilt’s offensive struggles did allow Notre Dame to grab a 25-13 lead midway through the second quarter. The run the Fighting Irish went on to begin the second quarter paid a big difference in the end, but Vandebilt was still able to make it a 31-26.
Early in the fourth quarter, Vanderbilt trailed 57-51, but the Commodores were able to comeback to tie the game at 57 with back-to-back three-point plays before the two teams went neck and neck with each other for the final five minutes of the game. What ended up being the difference making play occurred in the final 30 seconds. In a 64-64 game, Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo grabbed an offensive rebound that led to a layup for a teammate Cassandre Prosper, giving Notre Dame a 66-64 lead.
Vanderbilt had its chances to tie the game multiple times in the final 20 seconds, but turned the ball over and missed two three-pointer attempts as the buzzer sounded.
Two big stats that kept Vanderbilt from completing the comeback were its turnover numbers and that it took Mikayla Blakes perhaps too long to catch fire.
The Commodores had a season-high 23 turnovers in the game despite forcing 13 turnovers. As a result, Notre Dame was able to capitalize and outscore Vanderbilt 23-4 in points off turnovers. A 19-point swing against Vanderbilt came back to bite it and end its season at the end of the day. With Vanderbilt unable to take advantage of opportunities while Notre Dame simultaneously did, the Fighting Irish were able to pull off the second weekend upset.
Blakes did end up leading Vanderbilt in scoring with 26 points, but it was on 7-for-26 shooting. The sophomore Player of the Year candidate started the game 1-for-10 to start the game before making five of six shots down the stretch of the game.
Now, Vanderbilt will go into the offseason. While this loss will sting with the team for a while, it should not take away the fact of how magical the season was for Vanderbilt. Head coach Shea Ralph led the team to the most wins in program history with 29. The record was set before the postseason even began and was shattered during the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
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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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