Commodores Roll Past Aggies Behind Blakes’ 25 Points, Improve to 17-0
No. 7/6 Vanderbilt Moves to 17-0
The undefeated Vanderbilt Commodores women’s basketball team came into Reed Arena in College Station, Texas today looking to stay perfect. Vanderbilt completed that task and moved to 17-0 on the season with a 91-51 win. This matches their best start in program history, set by the 1992-93 Final Four team.
It took Vanderbilt over three and a half minutes to get a shot to fall in this game, and it was Aubrey Galvan with a wide-open three in transition. Vanderbilt began to heat up quickly as Jada Brown and Justine Pissott followed with threes to give Vanderbilt nine quick points.
Freshman Aubrey Galvan got in on the scoring, and led the way early, just as she did in the Mizzou game on Thursday night. You cannot give Galvan any space. She has a quick and accurate trigger, and that makes it extremely difficult for defenses to stop her. You also can’t forget about her court vision and ability to dish assists. Galvan was able to finish with 12 points, seven assists, and four steals on the day.
Her teammate, Justine Pissott was just unfair today from beyond the arc. She can catch and shoot with the best of them. She is second in the SEC in three-point percentage coming into today at 42.5 percent. Pissott finished the day with 22 points on 6-for-9 shooting from beyond the arc. She is just unfair out there on the court.
The 6’4″ senior continues to heat it up on the floor, and does a great job of getting to the right space on the floor. With the elite guard play of this Vanderbilt team, it makes it hard for the opposition to key on everyone. There is just no perfect way to do it, and Justine Pissott is one that takes her shots and makes them count.
Mikayla Blakes began to heat up in the second quarter. Thursday night, she didn’t score her 10th point until the fourth quarter, but today she reached that mark in the second. Her ability to get to the rack and score is, in my opinion, the strength of her game. She doesn’t have to rely on three-point shots, and that’s a true basketball player. She finished the day with 25 points, five assists, and three steals.
After the game, I asked Coach Shea Ralph about Blakes’ ability to score without relying on making three point shots.
“I think what’s cool about Mikayla is that she’s unguardable. She is, but she’s unguardable because she refuses to let someone guard her. She is going to come after you. She’s gonna rip your heart out of your chest on the basketball court, and then she’s the nicest kid ever off the court. But I’m telling you, that kid is one of the most incredible competitors I’ve ever seen,” said Ralph.
“So she’s gonna figure out a way to help us win, whether it’s score 25, get 8 steals, shoot 10 free throws, whatever. It doesn’t matter. Without making a three, without making a layup, you know, without touching the ball. She’s gonna make an impact on the court to help our team win because that is who she is. That’s the fabric of who she is. And it is amazing to witness and coach and watch and continue to usher her, you know, to make sure that she improves no matter what. Because there’s always something you can get better at. But she’s pretty damn good.”
Vanderbilt wanted to come into this game and dominate the boards and force turnovers as they’ve done a good job of doing this season. Today they were able to force the Aggies into late-clock situations and careless turnovers. A&M turned it over 25 times, which turned into 34 points. That’s always a good recipe for winning if you’re Vanderbilt, and a bad recipe for teams on the other side.
The Commodores today were able to trap and apply pressure to the Aggies and never allowed them rhythm. Even after the half, things did not get any better for Texas A&M. The Dores were able to blow this game wide open in the second half, and it was never in doubt. Vanderbilt came out today and was simply the better team in every way. They didn’t allow the Aggies much room at all to flow on the offensive side and didn’t give them much chance to affect them defensively either.
“Our team today was really good, and we had some ups and downs. The one thing that I’m starting to figure out about this team is that they love playing together, they’ve got great chemistry, and they want to win. They celebrate each other. There are things that I’m learning about them every day that humble me as a coach because the things that they have, I can’t coach. Their chemistry is incredible. They’re competitiveness, they’re toughness, their ability and willingness to be coached, those are things that I know from my experience as a player and a coach that you need to have if you want to win championships,” said Shea Ralph.
“Now, it’s only January, so I say that with a grain of salt, right? This is a great road win in the SEC in January, and we’re going to keep pushing and keep the process going from day to day. But I love what I’m seeing from my team. I’m really happy to be their coach.”
Now, Vanderbilt will continue their SEC road play with a trip to Starkville, Mississippi on Thursday, January 15 to face the Mississippi State Bulldogs. This game will be televised on the SEC Network with tip-off at 6:30 PM ET/5:30 PM CT. The Dores are currently 4-0 in SEC play for the first time since 2008-09.
Featured Image Courtesy of: Vanderbilt University Athletics
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