Vanderbilt WBB Ties Historic Program Start: The Anchor
Vanderbilt women’s basketball tied history Sunday afternoon in dominating fashion. The Commodores went on the road and beat Texas A&M by a convincing 91-51 score to tie a program-record 17-0 start to a season.
It was Mikayla Blakes for Vanderbilt who yet again led the way for the Commodores. Blakes had 25 points, her sixth consecutive game scoring 20 or more. Blakes has now scored in double figures for 36 straight games, the longest by a Vanderbilt player since the 1999-2000 season.
It was a close first quarter between the two schools with Vanderbilt leading just 18-14 after the first 10 minutes. But in the second quarter, the Commodores flipped a switch into another gear as they outscored Texas A&M by 15 points and took a 19-point lead into halftime.
From then on, Vanderbilt was fully on cruise control the second half, doubling its halftime lead up to 40 by the end of the game. Vanderbilt’s Justine Pissott had herself a career day in College Station. Pissott finished the game with a career-best 22 points with six three-point field goals. It is just the second time in her career that Pissott scored 20 or more in a game.
Vanderbilt shot nearly 57 percent from the floor and hit 12 threes as a team in the game. Defensively, Vanderbilt created 23 takeaways and turned it into 34 points off Texas A&M’s turnovers.
“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 with each other,” Vanderbilt head coach Shea Ralph said.
“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.”
Up next, Vanderbilt heads to Mississippi State and will go for its best start to a season in program history. The Commodores face off against the Bulldogs Thursday evening at 5:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
Today’s Commodores Schedule
There are no games scheduled today.
Yesterday’s Commodores Results Today
No. 7 Vanderbilt women’s basketball beat Texas A&M 91-51.
Did You Notice?
After the second weekend of SEC men’s basketball play, there are just two SEC teams that remain unbeaten in conference. Vanderbilt and Texas A&M are the only two teams to reach 3-0 in conference play this season as the rest of the standings contain a log jam between teams that are 2-1 or 1-2 in conference play.
Countdown to Vanderbilt’s 2026 Baseball Season Opener
32 days
Commodores Quote of The Day
“Most people don’t realize how close we came to going under. Even the pro-athletics members of the Board of Trust were beginning to think in terms of an intercollegiate program of another nature. I recruited Jess [Neely]. Had we not been able to get him, we might have gone under.”Dr. Rob Roy Purdy
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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.