Halfway through a Thursday night matchup with visiting No. 4-ranked Texas, Aubrey Galvan put in another two points in a roaring Memorial Gymnasium. The scoring is not surprising. Rookie Galvan has joined star sophomore guard Mikayla Blakes as the team’s regular double-digit contributor. The basket, though technically a layup, was a touchy flick from Galvan’s extended right arm up and over the bigger defender high off the glass. More like a running hook shot. Anyone who has been watching this team rise as a national powerhouse knows that this is Blakes’ shot.
“ I have to watch her every day,” Galvan, beaming down the table at Blakes, told media after the game. “ I guess it just naturally happens.”
“That’s the scoop,” Blakes responded. “She had it in her bag.”
These two stars have helped push Vanderbilt into a top-five position a month away from the season’s March Madness championship tournament. Vanderbilt has not performed well in March since an SEC championship and Sweet 16 exit in 2009. The team’s last Elite Eight was 2002 — when current Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Storey Lee was a senior on the team — and they have not been to the Final Four since 1993, three years before the WNBA played its first season. This year, the Commodores will likely be at least a No. 2 seed in the tournament, all but guaranteeing that they will have home-court advantage in the first round. They won the first 20 games of the season. The streak included a home win over No. 5 LSU and put Blakes into the conversation for National Player of the Year.
It’s fun to watch a team that really wants to win. Unlike major women’s basketball powerhouses UConn, South Carolina and LSU, Vanderbilt has not experienced this level of success in the past few seasons. With every ranked win, they shatter expectations. Blakes has said it multiple times — highly recruited out of high school, she came to Vanderbilt to build something.
Blakes’ standout play has led the team since her freshman-year debut. Without last year’s co-stars Khamil Pierre and Iyana Moore — who abruptly transferred to NC State and Notre Dame, respectively, in the offseason — this is indisputably Blakes’ team. Forward Sacha Washington — the team’s rebounding specialist and paint defender — and backup guard Jada Brown also seem to provide veteran presence on the bench and in the locker room, though this is a team firmly oriented toward the future.
In the first half of their dominant 102-86 win against No. 10 Oklahoma, Blakes and Galvan combined for more points than all the Sooners put together. Galvan notched her first 30-point game that day and Blakes added 34. Together they hit six 3-pointers. That game, sharpshooter Justine Pissott hit four of five shots behind the arc. Those stats helped, but crucially, the team started the game with pace and confidence. Slow first halves have put Vanderbilt behind for much of the season. Quick starts against Oklahoma and Texas set them up to earn and hold double-digit leads in both games.
Every week they seem to fix their problems. Last year’s offensive disorganization has turned to complicated pieces that every player executes, often finding shots for Blakes and Galvan off high screens and handoffs. Galvan’s strengths at point guard have allowed Blakes to find more dangerous and versatile shooting and driving positions from motion. Clearly Galvan is skilling up by watching Blakes, and has upped her ball handling and shot making in just half a season. The switch from last year has also given Blakes more energy as a defender, where she has shown off high-IQ footwork and helped generate turnovers. On the court, Blakes is not afraid of anyone. A smooth jump shot undersells the impressive array of skills she shows on a nightly basis.
Injury-plagued Washington has returned for a spectacular final season and helps anchor the ’Dores’ interior defense. When she has struggled against bigger centers, she’s gotten help from Pissott, Aiyana Mitchell and Aalyah Del Rosario to organize defensive rebounding. Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda has stepped up as a shooter and defensive pest, notching 11 points and four steals against Texas, her previous team.
Vanderbilt's Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda Aubrey Galvan celebrate after beating the Texas Longhorns at Memorial Gymnasium, Feb. 12, 2026
Opponents are clearly shaken playing this style of basketball. Obstacles are not just Blakes, who coaches plan around, but a coordinated team that plays four quarters of complete basketball. Star players get easily frustrated; LSU’s star Flau'jae Johnson left Memorial Gym with zero points. Late in Monday’s game, a visually flustered Raegan Beers fouled out, ending Oklahoma’s best chance at a comeback.
“ I had a coach that spent two weeks on this scout, and you'd never know it,” a dejected Vic Schaefer, Texas’ $2.3-million-a-year coach, said after the game. "Y'all can tell I am pissed, I'm disappointed, I'm hurt. That’s taking nothing from Vanderbilt. They were just flat tougher.”
The ’Dores’ ability to draw fouls and their physical, annoying defense challenges opposing players mentally. Opponents miss and make bad passes; they can’t secure rebounds cleanly, and they don’t shoot well. It’s one of the best parts of watching this team.
Memorial Gym has also learned how to be extremely loud. The whole gym — driven by a raucous student session — reacts to every call. They give the team a deafening home-court advantage and can create momentum from little plays, like a Galvan steal or an opponent’s airball. It's a powerful place for coach Shea Ralph, now in her fourth season. Ralph is the primary architect behind Vanderbilt women’s basketball’s quick turnaround and a legendary player herself. Her last championship was as an assistant coach at UConn in 2016, and she has preached consistency and belief since coming to Vanderbilt in 2022. Vanderbilt closed out the win 86-70 over Texas, a 2025 Final Four team, with the help of 34 Blakes points and a 47 percent 3-point percentage.
“ This is what we came here to do,” Ralph told reporters moments after Blakes and Galvan left the game’s press conference, gesturing toward their empty chairs. “ Prove me wrong that that's not the SEC Player of the Year, the National Player of the Year, and this one is in not Freshman of the Year. Every single night they show up and they do exactly what our team needs to do for us to win regardless of the narrative, regardless of the opponent, regardless of all the things that they can't control.”
Blakes says the team doesn’t look to March. To win next month, they have to close out a tough SEC season and perform at the conference tournament, which starts March 4 in Greenville, S.C. For now, it’s hard practices, and then Georgia, Kentucky and Alabama, before a final home game against rival Tennessee.
“ They came here to do the same thing, and I'm not surprised at the result,” Ralph said Thursday. “I'm not surprised at the season. We knew exactly what we wanted to do.”
