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After cruising to a 3-0 start, Vanderbilt Women’s Basketball (4-0) looked to continue its home court dominance on Wednesday, Nov. 11, against the Western Kentucky Lady Toppers (2-1). The Commodores entered the game having scored triple digits in their first three games of the season.
The ’Dores turned defense into offense throughout, forcing 22 Western Kentucky turnovers in a 101-59 blowout. On a relatively quiet night for star Mikayla Blakes who scored just 12 points, the rest of the team stepped up, with all five starters scoring double digits and Mia Woolfolk contributing a game-high 27 points. The win brings the Commodores to 4-0, with their high-powered offense reaching 100 points for their fourth straight game.
Olivia Jones, Aubrey Galvan, Vernell Atamah, Woolfolk and Blakes started the game for the Commodores — the same lineup that head coach Shea Ralph has used for the first three games of the season.
Western Kentucky won the tipoff, and guard Trinity Rowe drained a 3-pointer late in the shot clock. On the other end, a busted Lady Toppers zone left Atamah wide open for an easy layup. The Lady Toppers scored on their first three possessions of the game, jumping out to an early 8-4 lead, before Woolfolk was fouled on back-to-back shots for the ’Dores, making both of them and going 1-for-2 on free throws for an early 5 points.
Western Kentucky broke through the Vanderbilt press early and often, with a Josie Given drive and dish leading to free throws for Rowe. The following possession, Galvan responded with a difficult 3-pointer, followed up by a fast-break layup off a Western Kentucky turnover. After two quick Blakes buckets, Vanderbilt went into the first media timeout with a 22-14 lead, capitalizing on four early Lady Toppers turnovers.
Out of the break, the ’Dores nearly forced another turnover, leading to Western Kentucky guard Jamila Ray missing a prayer at the end of the shot clock. On the other end, the Lady Toppers continued to have no answer for Woolfolk inside, allowing her to increase her scoring total to 15 in just the first quarter. Western Kentucky forward Ellery Minch knocked down an elbow jumper, but Vanderbilt struck right back with a quick Blakes layup.
The fifth Western Kentucky turnover of the game led to another Galvan 3-pointer, continuing her hot streak from deep after starting the season 8-for-12. The Lady Toppers failed to get a shot away to end the quarter, and the ’Dores ended the quarter with a 31-18 lead. Woolfolk led the way with 15 points for Vanderbilt in just 9 minutes played.
The Commodores started the second quarter with two more Galvan deep shots, increasing her total to 14 on the game on an efficient 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. After a sloppy first quarter, Vanderbilt was much more fundamentally sound with their defensive rotations to start the second, limiting the open shots they had been giving the Lady Toppers. Jones assisted on a pretty backdoor cut by Galvan to bring the lead to 19 early on in the second.
Western Kentucky struggled to maintain the hot shooting they had started the game with, but a second-chance bucket by junior Hayven Smith brought some life back to the Lady Toppers bench. However, they still struggled to get anything done inside the paint, as evidenced by Vanderbilt senior Aiyana Mitchell’s stifling block over Ray.
Shea Ralph’s motion offense generated more easy looks for the ’Dores, and Jones found space on a well-schemed baseline out-of-bounds for another easy two. After a Blakes steal-and-score, the struggling Lady Toppers were forced to use another timeout. Vanderbilt continued to ratchet up the defensive pressure to match their hot offensive start, stifling Western Kentucky before they could even reach half court. A Jhai Johnson and-one soon brought the ’Dores above the half-century mark.
After both teams traded 3-point buckets, the Commodores forced a ten-second violation for the 11th Western Kentucky turnover of the game. They continued to get anything they wanted inside, with Johnson adding a free throw after collecting Vanderbilt’s ninth offensive rebound of the game. Another Lady Hilltopper turnover sent the teams to halftime with Vanderbilt leading 57-25. Commodore sharpshooter Galvan led the game in scoring at the half with 19 points, including 5 made 3-pointers.
Vanderbilt started the second half with the same lineup they used to start the game, and Smith started the half with a nice basket for the Lady Toppers. However, the ’Dores would force turnovers on the next two possessions, with an Atamah three and a Woolfolk layup leading to 5 points off of those turnovers.
Western Kentucky made a concentrated effort to get the ball inside to junior Torri James early, receiving paint touches on three consecutive possessions. She was able to knock down two free throws and an easy basket with guard Kamille Brown assisting after a steal.
Following a missed Atamah three, James got another two points inside, being the most effective paint presence for the Lady Toppers despite being just 5’11. Woolfolk scored two more layups on the other end off assists from Blakes and Jones, giving Vanderbilt a 74-40 lead at the first timeout of the second half.
A misplaced pass in transition led to a series of three saves for the Commodores, with the high-effort play prompting loud cheers from the Memorial Gymnasium crowd when it resulted in a Jones layup. On the other end, the Lady Toppers halted the momentum for the ’Dores with a Hayven Smith and-one, but yet another Blakes steal-and-score would make the score 80-46 and end the half on a positive note for Vanderbilt. The layup brought Blakes to 12 points at the end of the quarter, a relatively quiet night by Blakes’ sky-high standard of 25.3 points per game so far this season.
Blakes started the final quarter on the bench, with Ralph bringing Galvan back into the game. Both teams started the quarter slow, but a Galvan steal quickly led to a Johnson layup on the other end, before graduate student Josie Gilvin responded with two points for the Lady Toppers on an elbow jumper.
Memorial Gymnasium gave perhaps its loudest ovation of the night for a Galvan highlight assist, in which she swung a no-look pass down low for a Woolfolk layup. The two combined for 46 points on the night before being subbed out for the final time, receiving cheers from the Commodore bench.
Vanderbilt graduate student Saniyah Glenn-Bello and junior Trinity Wilson were subbed in for the first time on the night, with Wilson quickly contributing two layups, both off assists from Johnson. The ’Dores had scored 90 points by a media timeout with 4:45 left in the fourth, no doubt eyeing what would be their fourth consecutive 100-point night.
Western Kentucky continued to struggle against Vanderbilt’s pressure defense, with their 21st turnover of the night coming on a five-second back-to-basket violation. A Madison Greene 3-pointer soon brought the Commodores’ total to 97, and senior Sther Ubaka brought the ’Dores to the precipice of 100 with a layup in her first play on the court.
Finally, with a minute in the game, another Ubaka layup secured the century mark for Vanderbilt, making them 100% on the year in terms of reaching triple digits. Lola Bond responded with a deep triple for the Lady Toppers, whose 34 second-half points marked an improvement over their first-half total of 25. As the final buzzer sounded, the Commodores extended their streak of 100-point games to four, improving upon what was already a record. Woolfolk finished the game as the high scorer for the ’Dores, with an impressive 27 points in just 20 minutes played.
The Commodores will have time to rest before their toughest challenge of the season thus far when they go on the road to take on the No. 10 Iowa Hawkeyes Sunday, Nov. 15, at 12:00 p.m. CST.
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