Vanderbilt's Mikayla Blakes breaks NCAA freshman scoring record with 53 points vs. Florida
A week after hitting a game-winning put-back against Tennessee, Blakes had a night that will live on even longer: She scored 53 points in the Commodores' 99-86 win over Florida on Thursday in Gainesville, setting an NCAA single-game record for a freshman. The total is also the highest single-game mark for any player in SEC history.
Blakes has been one of the most prolific scorers in the country in her first season with the Commodores. The No. 8 recruit in the Class of 2024 was averaging 21 points per game entering Thursday's contest, placing her 15th nationally, per Her Hoop Stats.
𝙈𝙞𝙠𝙖𝙮𝙡𝙖 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨
The NCAA has a new freshman scoring record holder 😏#AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/A3eVH7LgYx
— no. 23 Vanderbilt WBB (@VandyWBB) January 31, 2025
It's hard to believe the 19-year-old freshman only started playing basketball at age 12. But as her brother, Stanford guard Jaylen Blakes, says, basketball was made for Mikayla. The Gators had no answers for Blakes' attacks on the rim, as she made 11 of 12 layups and earned 18 free-throw attempts. She also hit 5 of 9 3-pointers as Vanderbilt built an early lead and never looked back.
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'When it comes time to win, Mikayla Blakes is going to do what it takes to win, and today it took 53 points and all of the other things she did, commanding the ball at the right moments through a super-physical game,' coach Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph said postgame on Learfield radio. 'I was very impressed with her poise and her composure. She is certainly the best freshman in the country, I would say, and there are a lot of good ones.'
GO DEEPER
The buzzer-beating Blakes siblings: Jaylen and Mikayla hit game-winners on same weekend
The Commodores are recapturing their past glory with Blakes at the forefront. A year after making their first NCAA Tournament appearance in a decade, Vanderbilt reached the top 25 of the AP poll this week for the first time since 2014. The Commodores are currently sixth in the SEC standings, on pace for a first-round bye in the conference tournament and potentially in position to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament if they continue to rack up wins.
Blakes is in an increasingly competitive race for freshman of the year. Sarah Strong and Joyce Edwards both play for national powerhouses (UConn and South Carolina, respectively), but neither big has the individual responsibility Blakes shoulders at Vanderbilt. She is the team's leading scorer and is also second in assists and steals.
'One of the things that I always talked to my kids about is, 'You have to compete every time you step on the court',' Blakes' dad Monroe told The Athletic. 'And so some days shots may or may not go in but you have to compete at a high level because that goes everywhere and I think that's what transfers over.'
Blakes has now scored in double figures in every conference game, with Ole Miss — the fifth-best scoring defense in the country — up next on the docket. The way her freshman season has gone, it'll take a lot more than that to slow Blakes down.
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