In a whirlwind of a weekend, the Vanderbilt Commodores (15-4, 2-3) picked up the win against No. 15 Tennessee (15-3, 3-3), topped off by one of the most memorable shots in recent Memorial Gymnasium history at the hands of Mikayla Blakes. The freshman not only had the game-winning putback shot, but a game-high 23 points. Khamil Pierre added 21 points of her own, and Iyana Moore followed with 17 points herself — including six clutch points in the fourth quarter.
This victory comes off the heels of another electric afternoon in Memorial yesterday, as the men’s program upset No. 6 Tennessee in a one-point victory themselves. This marks the first time since 2014 that both the men’s and women’s programs defeated Tennessee; though, this time around, both wins came in the same weekend and at the same place.
“This [game] was important,” said Coach Ralph “The way we played today was important in terms of where we are in our season, the fact that we had this opportunity on our home court [and] the things that happened yesterday for the men’s [team]. It was an important moment for us and the trajectory of our program this season.”
First Quarter
The Commodores started the game with a bang, as Blakes found Moore curling off a screen at the top of the key who swished home the three pointer for the first points of the game. Blakes would then follow up with a three of her own two possessions later to extend the lead to six, which was immediately cut in half when Tennessee’s Tess Darby swished a three of her own from the right corner. Tennessee couldn’t celebrate too long, as Blakes recorded her second three of the game early in the shot clock of the next possession. 9-3 Commodores.
Tennessee quickly responded by scoring two quick layups — both by leading scorer Talaysia Cooper, cutting the Vanderbilt lead to two. Vanderbilt and Tennessee then traded two baskets each and by the first media timeout, Vanderbilt led 13-11 with Blakes scoring the last ten points for the Commodores.
Off the timeout, Moore continued her offball attack, curling off a screen on the right wing and nailing her second three of the game thanks to an assist from Leilani Kapinus. Tennessee responded with a layup by Samara Spencer and after a few empty possessions on each side, Zee Spearman would hit a layup on her own to cut the lead down to one.
Pierre finally got in on the action with a little under three minutes to play, getting her first point by splitting her shots at a trip to the line and following it up with a fadeaway from the elbow a few possessions later. Her three points gave the Commodores a 19-15 lead.
Tennessee, as always, wouldn’t go away. The Lady Vols would score two unanswered threes, flipping the score in their favor 21-19 with 30 seconds left in the quarter. Off the inbound, Madison Greene raced down the court and swung the ball to Jordyn Oliver. Oliver drove hard left and hit a tough scoop layup with the left hand, evening the score at 21 a-piece to end the quarter.
Second Quarter
At the end of the first quarter, Tennessee led in rebounding 9-4, a trend that the Lady Vols looked to dominate early in the quarter. In the first 90 seconds, Tennessee led rebounding 7-1, with six of those rebounds coming on the offensive end. Alyssa Latham would finally score the first basket for the Vols with 8:45 left in the second, making the first free throw in her trip to the line. Latham would miss the second but grab her own rebound, which later led to Spencer hitting her two free throws after being fouled by Blakes. That marked Blakes’s third foul of the game only two minutes into the second quarter, causing her to head to the bench.
Vanderbilt would finally score its first points with 6:32 left in the quarter off a layup from Moore, cutting the Volunteer lead to 24-23. The Commodores then got a stop, forcing Spencer to drive baseline and step out of bounds. Off the inbound, Madison Greene blew by her defender, breaking the press, and fired to Pierre on the left wing who cashed home a three-pointer to give the Commodores the lead 26-24. Each team scored once more before the media timeout, giving Vanderbilt the 28-26 lead with 3:47 left in the half.
Both Vanderbitl and Tennessee would have empty trips after the timeout, but the scoring drought didn’t last for long. Kapinus would feed Iyana Moore in transition who stepped into her third three-point basket of the game. Pierre joined in on the fun with a mid-range jump shot of her own, extending the lead to 33-26. Pierre even showed off her vision shortly after, driving baseline and throwing a one handed pass that wrapped around her defender to a cutting Kapinus who nailed the floater as the shot clock expired.
Vanderbilt wasn’t done, either. The ‘Dores had one more big play in them. With the game clock winding down and nowhere to go, Greene hop stepped away from the help defense and attempted a floater under heavy pressure, nailing the shot as the buzzer sounded. The Vanderbilt bench stormed Greene as the Commodores extended their lead to 37-26, the largest lead of the game on either side thus far.
The story of the first half was the three-ball. Vanderbilt shot 6-13 from beyond the arc in the first half, a 46.7% clip. Tennessee, on the other hand, shot only 3-20 — or 15% — including an 0-12 mark in the second quarter. Vanderbilt also erased the massive rebounding deficit, as the Volunteers only narrowly led 23-21 at half despite dominating the offensive boards, bringing down 10 offensive rebounds to Vanderbilt’s 5.
Moore led all scorers with 11 points, while Pierre and Blakes each added 10 points of their own. On the other side, Cooper led Tennessee with 10 points herself.
Third Quarter
Tennessee came out of halftime hot, scoring two quick baskets in three trips. With momentum on their side, Pierre sealed Spencer for an entry pass and when the two got tangled and fell to the floor, Spencer threw the ball at Pierre’s legs. Both Spencer and Pierre were assessed technical fouls for the altercation.
After the technical fouls were assessed, Nwaba put the Commodores on the board by snagging an Oliver miss and nailing a floater over two defenders. Tennessee then scored two unanswered baskets to make it 39-34 in favor of Vanderbilt.
With a little under seven minutes left in the quarter, Tennessee’s Jewel Spear was stuck in the corner with the shot clock winding down. Her three-point heave was blocked and recovered by Moore, who pushed the ball on the fast break and threw an outlet pass to an open Blakes, who made the layup to extend the lead to seven. Moore would find Blakes once more, sending a pocket pass from the foul line to a cutting Blakes on the right side for a layup a few possessions later.
With about three minutes left in the third quarter — and a few baskets on each side — Tennessee nailed a three to make the score 47-40 in favor of Vanderbilt and immediately after, Tess Darby stole the ball from Jordyn Oliver and made the layup on the other end, cutting the once ten-point lead in half and causing Ralph to use a timeout.
The third quarter would end with Vanderbilt on top 54-45, mostly from their contributions at the charity stripe. The Commodores didn’t score a field goal for the last 3:36 of the quarter, yet still outscored Tennessee 9-8, going 9-10 from the line from a combination of shooting fouls and fouls in the bonus.
Fourth Quarter
Vanderbilt got started in the fourth the same way it ended the third — at the foul line. Khamil Pierre drew a shooting foul on a layup attempt and nailed one of her two free throws.
Tennessee then exploded, going on a 9-2 run, capped off by two straight Spear three-pointers to tie the game up at 57. Greene then nailed a pull-up midrange a step inside the three-point arc to bring some life into the Vanderbilt lineup, which was quickly squashed by a Spearman putback.
With a little under three minutes left in the game, Iyana Moore curled off a Pierre screen and took a pull-up jumper at the freethrow line, which rimmed out and was swallowed by Tennessee. The Lady Vols went down on the other end and put the ball in Spencer’s hand, who drove right on Greene and made a tough and-one layup to take their first lead…
On the other end, Blakes would miss a jumpshot and Aiyana Mitchell would foul in the backcourt, putting Tennessee in the bonus and allowing Spear to extend the lead to five. Blakes would try once again to give the Commodores some momentum with a layup on the right block but it got rejected by Cooper and was narrowly saved from going out of bounds, giving Tennessee possession of the ball.
With two minutes left and the score at 66-61 in favor of the Lady Vols, Moore hit a midrange from the top of the circle to cut the lead to three. Then, while trying to inbound the ball, Blakes tips the ball out of bounds that the ref originally said hits the inbounder, giving the ball to Vanderbilt but after review, the call was reversed, giving Tennessee possession. The Commodores ended up getting a stop nonetheless, and on the other side of the floor, Moore sinks yet another basket, this time via a head-on floater. The Lady Vols then called a timeout up 66-65 with one minute remaining.
Off the timeout, Spearman made a tough right-handed layup on their possession and Blakes responded by driving right herself, getting fouled and sinking both free throws. With 38.2 seconds on the clock, the Vols called a timeout to advance the ball to their offensive half and then had to burn their last timeout by failing to inbound the ball. Coming out of that timeout, the Vols inbounded the ball successfully, finding the hands of Ruby Whitehorn who fell down. Oliver rushes in to force a jump ball, which she did, giving possession to the Commodores. Timeout Ralph, Vandy down a point.
Off the inbound, Pierre received the entry pass on the right block, which she bobbles before backing down her defender. The sophomore slides baseline, getting position where she’s fouled from behind. Pierre would sink both free throws to give the Black and Gold a 69-68 lead. Tennessee quickly advances the ball and after a referee mixup, was able to reset and inbound from the sideline. After inbounding the ball, the Commodores left a wide open Whitehorn for a layup, giving the Lady Vols the lead right back.
Ralph calls a timeout to advance the ball and off the inbound, Pierre was given the ball in the same right block she just operated from. Just like clockwork, Pierre found her way into a strong-hand layup, which bounded twice off the left side of the rim before dropping out. But Blakes was right there. The freshman puts the ball back up and through the net for what is likely the biggest shot of her young career with only 0.8 seconds on the clock. Tennessee couldn’t even get a shot off as the buzzer expired and Vanderbilt emerged victorious.
“I saw [Pierre’s shot] go up and I [thought] it was going in,” said Blakes, “and it came off the rim right into my hands, so I had to make that [shot].”
And made it, she did. Once the buzzer sounded, Blakes was hounded by teammates and family, celebrating the end to a weekend that many in the Vanderbilt sphere will never forget.
Vanderbilt will be back in action when it takes on Arkansas at home on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 6:30 p.m. CST.
