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Vanderbilt women’s basketball finished its home late with a big win over No. 24 Alabama 85-60 Thursday night.
Vanderbilt was able to jump off to a fast start, leading 28-16 after the first quarter. But Alabama did punch back as the Crimson Tide outscored Vanderbilt 16-8 in the second quarter and cut the Commodores’ lead to 36-32 going into halftime.
But what feels like every game, Vanderbilt head coach Shea Ralph and her team made adjustments and it paid off in a big way. Vanderbilt came out of halftime on fire on both ends of the floor and turned what was a close game into a blowout pretty quickly. The Commodores ended up out-scoring Alabama by 15 in the third quarter before extending their lead in the final quarter to come out with a blowout victory.
The star of the night for Vanderbilt was none other than Mikayla Blakes. Blakes finished with 35 points on 11-for-21 shooting and 6-for-13 from three-point land. Her performance was the fifth consecutive game scoring 30 points or more against a ranked team. Since the 2021-2022 season, that is most consecutive games scoring 30 or more against ranked competition. She passed former Iowa great Caitlin Clark in that stat.
For Vanderbilt, the Commodores finished the season undefeated at home for the first time in program history with an outstanding 16-0 record. With the win, Vanderbilt also clinched either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament next week in Greenville.
Before the SEC Tournament, Vanderbilt finishes its regular season on the road against Tennessee Sunday. The Commodores and Volunteers tipoff at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN.
190 days
No. 5 Vanderbilt women’s basketball beat Alabama 85-60.
Vanderbilt lacrosse vs. Cincinnati, 12 p.m. CT.
Vanderbilt women’s tennis vs. No. 2 Texas A&M, 2:30 p.m. CT.
Vanderbilt baseball vs. UC Irvine at the Live Like Lou Las Vegas College Classic (Las Vegas, Nevada), 4 p.m. CT on D1Baseball.com.
Vanderbilt men’s tennis at Oklahoma, 4 p.m. CT.
Vanderbilt track and field at the SEC Indoor Championships, Day 2 (College Station, Texas).
Another 30-piece for Mikayla Blakes 💯
That's five straight against Top-25 teams. pic.twitter.com/cZ1KAP6Ntx
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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