Vanderbilt WBB Moves to 18-0, Best Start in Program History
After watching Vanderbilt Football rewrite the record books this season, Vanderbilt women’s basketball coach Shea Ralph appears ready to ask football counterpart Clark Lea to hold her beer.
Her team held off a pesky Mississippi State squad in Starkville 89-84 to improve to 18-0 – setting the new record for best start in program history. The 18 consecutive victories is also a program record.
After the men’s team looked flat in suffering their first loss of the season to Texas 80-64 – perhaps looking ahead a bit to theupcoming matchup with defending National Champion Florida this weekend — it looked like a similar fate might await the women’s team. With a marquee matchup against top ten Michigan coming up Monday to highlight MLK Day festivities, the Commodores struggled to pull away from MSU in a game that featured 11 lead changes.
Vandy had a slim 36-35 lead at the half but found themselvesdown by 4 points early in the 3rd quarter. Commodoresresponded with a 21-6 run to take an 11-point lead into the 4thquarter 66-55 and create a little breathing room.
Still, MSU wouldn’t go away and managed to close the gap to as little as 4 points with just over four minutes left, but Vandy would hold on.
The difference in this game was simple: One team had Mikayla Blakes, and the other team didn’t. As is the case in almost every game, the sensational sophomore was the best player on the court finishing with a season high 38 points to go with 5 rebounds and 7 assists.
Senior forward Justine Pissott finished with 12 points, extending her streak of double figure scoring to three games. Junior post Aiyanna Mitchell was the only other Commodore in double figures with 10 points – including buckets at key moments in the game — to go with a team-high 8 rebounds.
Vandy improves to 5-0 in the SEC but will face off against the Big Ten in the next game. Extending their record winning streak won’t be easy with the Commodores playing #8 Michigan at the Prudential Center in New Jersey on Monday.
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