Women’s Basketball: Shea Ralph, Mikayla Blakes and Aubrey Galvan headline SEC awards – The Vanderbilt Hustler

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The Southeastern Conference announced its 2026 Women’s Basketball postseason awards March 3. Sophomore guard Mikayla Blakes was named SEC Player of the Year, freshman guard Aubrey Galvan was named SEC Freshman of the Year and head coach Shea Ralph was named SEC Coach of the Year. This is the sixth time in SEC history that a school has swept these three awards, and Vanderbilt joins Tennessee, South Carolina and Kentucky as the only schools to accomplish this.
For just the sixth time in League history and the first time since 2013-14, the same school has won SEC Coach of the Year, Player of the Year AND Freshman of the Year. pic.twitter.com/lmPZAhqqSA
— Vanderbilt WBB (@VandyWBB) March 3, 2026

Blakes averaged 27.1 points, 4.6 assists and 2.9 steals per game this season, shooting 46.6% from the field and 36.1% from behind the arc. She led the NCAA in scoring and was the first SEC player this century to score 30-plus points in 12 games this season. She becomes the second SEC Player of the Year from Vanderbilt — Chantelle Anderson won the award in 2001-02. Blakes was also named to the All-SEC first team for the second-straight season, and is the 13th player in conference history to win both SEC Freshman of the Year and SEC Player of the Year. Blakes is a finalist for the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year, the Wooden Award, the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and the Ann Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Award.
Galvan has captured Vanderbilt’s fourth SEC Freshman of the Year award. She averaged 12.9 points, 5.9 assists and 2.7 steals per game with a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio. She led all freshmen nationally in assists (178) and assists per game (5.9) and also had 81 steals. The point guard was named SEC Freshman of the Week five times this season and was the only SEC freshman to score 30 points in a game this season, which she did vs. Oklahoma Feb. 9.
Ralph is the first Vanderbilt Women’s Basketball head coach to win SEC Coach of the Year. In her fifth year, she led the Commodores to a school-record 27 regular-season wins and a program-best 13 SEC wins. Ralph’s squad did not lose inside Memorial Gym this season, going 16-0 and marking the first time in program history that the Commodores went undefeated at home in a regular season.
No. 5 Vanderbilt is the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament and will play its first game at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on Friday at 5 p.m. CST on the SEC Network.
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