There’s 8:52 left in the fourth quarter. Vanderbilt Women’s Basketball is playing its second game in three days — this time against Samford of the Southern Conference. The Commodores lead 71-48.

A normal team would recognize the game is over, transition to its bench players and spend the rest of the game just running out the clock. This Vanderbilt team, however, is not normal. 

Sophomore Khamil Pierre got fouled with 8:52 to go and made the first shot before missing the second. First-year Mikalya Blakes scrambled for the loose ball and threw it off a Stamford player. On the ensuing inbound, she ran to the corner and swished a three, resulting in a 74-48 lead.

Then, something really head-scratching happened. Up 26 points with fewer than 9 minutes left in the game, the Commodores do something no outside observer would expect them to do: they run a press defense. This might be puzzling to many, but it’s not a surprise to those who watch Vanderbilt Women’s Basketball. Running multiple defenders at the opposing ball-handler is always expected, whether the team is up by 2, 20 or even 40 points. It’s just what the ‘Dores do. 

“I am not asking them to be flawless,” head coach Shea Ralph said following Vanderbilt’s win over Butler. “But, I am asking them to be flawless in their effort.” 

Through six games, the Commodores might not have been flawless, but their 6-0 record is. In just the last week, Vanderbilt has bested Butler by 29, Hampton by 49 and Samford by 45. The Commodores have beaten their six opponents by an average of 40.67 points per game.

That’s pretty good for the team picked to finish 10th in the SEC by the preseason media poll. It’s also leagues better than Vanderbilt was playing this time last season, as was pointed out in last week’s Memorial Minutes.

That Memorial Minutes also made a claim: That the sky was the limit for the Vanderbilt Commodores. Based on what we’ve seen through six games, however, I’m revising that statement: Perhaps there’s no limit whatsoever.

Mikalya Blakes, the star you are

Another claim made in last week’s Memorial Minutes is that Blakes might be deserving of her own section. This week, that claim becomes a reality. Why? Because, through six games, the first-year guard is averaging a team-leading 20.0 points per game on 51.2% shooting — on top of a team-leading 3.7 assists per game. That’s why she was named SEC Freshman of the Week.

Just take a listen to what her coach has to say about her. 

“Is she skilled? Yes,” Ralph said. “Is she talented? Yes. But she is a dog. She is fearless. She’s a competitor. And the way [that] she plays every day is the way she practices.”

Adding to an already prolific statistical profile, Blakes is leading the team in 3-point attempts (6.3 per game) and is third in 3-point percentage (34.2%) behind only Madison Greene. In the win over Butler, Blakes went 4-of-9 from deep and 9-of-18 overall — adding up to a team-leading 29 points in the biggest game of this young 2024 season.

Even when she’s not scoring, Blakes makes her impact felt on defense. She’s already proven herself to be one of the best point-of-attack defenders on Ralph’s squad — testified to by her 2.5 steals per game — and isn’t hesitant to take a charge once defenders get in the paint. Ralph’s teams usually throw two defenders at the ball-handler — and, when she’s on the court, Blakes is almost always one of those defenders.

In the spirit of Ralph’s commitment to excellence, it would be inappropriate if growth opportunities weren’t also pointed out. Blakes is still working through the transition to becoming an SEC-caliber lead on-ball guard, and that transition comes with the glaring growing pain of turnovers. Blakes isn’t averaging a lot (2.7 per game); but many of them — particularly a misplaced dribble during the second half against Samford — are just young player mistakes. Clean those up, and Blakes is easily one of the best guards in the SEC — even, potentially, in just her first season.

Transfer portal industrial complex

The two biggest offseason additions outside of Blakes were graduate transfers Jane Nwaba and Leilani Kapinus. Through six games, both have found themselves as integral parts of Vanderbilt’s rotation — one as a starter and the other off the bench.

Nwaba, a transfer forward from Pepperdine, has started all six games for the Commodores this season and serves as a Swiss army knife for Ralph. The transfer is top five on the team in points (7.3), assists (1.3) and steals (1.2) while also averaging 3.3 rebounds per game. Her scoring primarily comes through layups and midrange jumpers, but she’s not afraid to pull up from deep if left wide open.

Kapinus, a transfer from Penn State, has emerged off the bench after missing the first game of the season. The 5’10 forward had by far her best outing in the Black and Gold against Samford, where she pulled down 10 boards to go with 11 points, 6 assists and 4 steals. In other words, just like Nwaba, she does it all on the court.

Both have given the Commodores a dimension they didn’t have last season: Outside of Justine Pissott and Aga Makurat — two shoot-first perimeter players — Vanderbilt didn’t have a lot of action along the wings last season. This season the Commodores have two players that can dribble from the wing to the paint and create penetration that opens up the perimeter for other players. Previously, that was a job occupied solely by Vanderbilt’s bigs, so the addition of two driving forwards gives the Commodores another way to pick apart their opponents.

Returning recently is the junior transfer Pissott, who missed the first three games of the season due to an unspecified injury. Pissott — the team’s leader in 3-point shooting percentage last season (among qualified players) — has seen her minutes restricted through three games, only playing around 10 minutes a night. She was a perennial starter for the Commodores last season and served as an elite threat from deep. Whether she gets back to the same shape she was in last season will be a determinant of just how high Vanderbilt can fly in 2024-2025.

What about Washington?

Speaking of injuries, one Commodore who still hasn’t taken the court is senior Sacha Washington. Washington averaged 12.1 points and 7.9 rebounds as the Commodores’ starting center last season. This season, that role’s been taken over by Pierre, who transitioned to starting alongside Washington at the end of last season. 

Ralph said the University would be issuing a statement on Washington in a matter of days after the Commodores’ win over Hampton. Here we are, a few days later, and we still have no word on Washington or the nature of her non-basketball injury.

Assuming she returns — which is no guarantee at this point — she’ll likely work her way back from off the bench and eventually into the starting lineup once again. Washington is, without a doubt, one of the five best players on the roster. 

That said, I’m concerned about how hard it will be for her to work her way back considering how much the Commodores run and gun. Pierre was always the more mobile center, and that is exactly what Vanderbilt wants to have as it switches one through five and runs up and down the court at a blistering pace.

Another question looms: Can Pierre and Washington coexist? They have the ability to play on the floor at the same time — they did last season when the Commodores won an NCAA Tournament game. That said, is the best version of Pierre really a version that shares the floor with another 6’2 undersized center, and vice versa? 

They’ll have to find a way to share the court if Washington comes back. That likely means Pierre will slide over to more of a traditional power forward role on offense given her superior spacing — though she isn’t much of a shooter. Washington might play more at the four position on defense given that she’s a marginally worse rebounder than the double-double machine that is Pierre. They found a way to make it work to solid success last season, so I’d bet on Ralph finding a way to make it work once more.

The Commodores won’t go as far as any one player — be that Blakes, Pierre, Washington or anybody else — will take them. Instead, they will play as a team, live as a team and die as a team. 

That team might be undefeated, but major changes loom as a Washington return threatens to shake up the roster. Washington will undoubtedly increase the team’s ceiling, but will the Commodores stumble as they incorporate her back into the lineup?

Vanderbilt will be back in action on Nov. 26 when it takes on Arizona (5-1) in the Acrisure Classic at 3:30 p.m. CST. After that, the Commodores will face either California (6-0) or Michigan State (6-0) on Nov. 27.