Mikayla Blakes Wins National Award: The Anchor

Your daily briefing on what’s going on with Vanderbilt Athletics.

Mar 27, 2026; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores guard Mikayla Blakes (1) dribbles the ball up court against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the second half at Dickies Arena. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-Imagn Images | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Vanderbilt women’s basketball star Mikayla Blakes is taking home some more hardware post-Vanderbilt’s 2025-2026 season.

Thursday afternoon, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced that Blakes is the recipient of this year’s Anne Meyers Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year Award for her performance this season. Blakes is the first Vanderbilt player to earn a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame starting five award. The award has been given annually in women’s hoops since 2018

The announcement of the award should not come to a surprise to anyone. Blakes lit the scoreboards on fire all season and stuffed statsheets game in and game out. The sophomore was the heartbeat of Vanderbilt’s 29-5 team throughout the season.

Blakes helped lead the Commodores to a program record 29-5 record while averaging 27 points per game on the season and 30 points per game during conference play. Her performance on the offensive end led Division I women’s basketball in scoring as the Somerset, New Jersey native was also named a finalist for the Player of the Year Award.

Blakes helped Vanderbilt far exceed preseason expectations, taking the program to places it has not been to in years. She also helped the Commodores set a program record for the most conference wins in a season as they went 13-3 in SEC play.

Those performances led to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and an appearance in this season’s Sweet 16.

Countdown to Vanderbilt’s 2026 Football Spring Game

13 days

The Anchor: Sunday, April 5, 2026

• Heading into the final day of the Mason Rudolph Championship, Vanderbilt men’s golf is currently in third place of 15 teams. The Commodores card at 4-under heading into the final round.

• With Vanderbilt lacrosse’s victory over East Carolina, the Commodores are now 3-0 in conference play in the American Conference. Vanderbilt had a 4-0 scoring run late in the game to come from behind and win.

• Class of 2028 and three-star receiver recruit Joshua Parker announced on Twitter/X that he has received an offer from Vanderbilt football.

Saturday’s Commodores Results

Vanderbilt women’s tennis beat Arkansas 7-0.

Vanderbilt lacrosse beat East Carolina 15-13.

Vanderbilt men’s tennis lost to No. 13 South Carolina 4-1.

Vanderbilt bowling won the Rochester Regional Championship.

Sunday’s Commodores Schedule

Vanderbilt men’s golf at the Mason Rudolph Championship, Day 3 at 8 a.m. CT.

Commodores Quote of The Day

“Our opportunity is to set high standards in terms of the student as athlete and … still perform well on the athletic playing field.”

Gordon Gee

We’ll Leave You With This…

Good to be home 🫶 pic.twitter.com/FRSld225oR

— Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) April 4, 2026

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