Here are three quick takes, two questions and a prediction for the women's basketball team that is having a terrific season thus far. The Commodores are sitting at 16-2 and 3-1 in SEC play.

They will play Auburn on Thursday at home.

Three quick takes

Iyana Moore is an x-factor

It seems that when all is right on the court is whenever Iyana Moore is having a good game, and when she isn't, scoring can be a struggle for Vanderbilt.

Looking at the four SEC games played so far, the three games that Vanderbilt won came when Moore was on fire. Through the first three games, Moore was averaging 28.7 points. She also recorded a career-high 37 points in the win at Kentucky.

In the loss to Missouri on Sunday, she only contributed five points. Low scoring games for Moore makes it tougher for Vanderbilt to win games.

To grab wins in the SEC, Iyana Moore has to play a solid game.

Moore is averaging 11.2 points per game.

Khamil Pierre will be the future of this program

Pierre is a player that Shea Ralph is very excited about.

The forward was just awarded the honor of SEC Freshman of the Week for the second time this season. Pierre also recorded her first double-double against Missouri.

"She's improved a lot," Shea Ralph said. "If Kamil can stack days together where she starts to incrementally improve just with her pace and her energy and her toughness, she can be a big reason why we do some special things this year."

She is the first player off of the Vanderbilt bench who provides an immediate impact. Pierre has the ability to score under the basket and at long range. She also rebounds the ball well.

The freshman is averaging 7.1 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

Jordyn Oliver is the glue

Someone who flies under the radar is Jordyn Oliver. She does all of the small things right that don't show up on the stat sheet.

Oliver herself even said, "I like to do the uncool things."

Every successful team needs someone who does the dirty work, and that is Oliver. She plays bigger than she is in order to grab rebounds, helps apply pressure in a press and relieves her guards when they need help.

Oliver is great at embracing and understanding what her role is to this team.

The Duke transfer is averaging 6.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.

Two questions:

How can Sacha Washington get more involved?

Sacha Washington was playing great during the nonconference portion of the season. The SEC is where she has had her struggles.

Before conference play started, Washington was playing very solid basketball. She had nine games where she scored in double figures, including her career-high 33 points against Louisiana Tech. Washington also recorded four double-doubles.

So far in SEC play, she hasn't had a game where she has scored or rebounded in double digits.

Washington is getting the chances, so this could possibly just be a slump. The other issue is forcing a pass when it's not there.

There have been plenty of times times guards have attempted to get the ball to Washington when there were defenders on her. Vanderbilt will need to figure out how to get her the ball more consistently since she is good at finishing at the rim.

Why can Vanderbilt win close games?

There are many reasons that the Commodores stand a chance when competing in close games and all of the reasons have statistics to back it up.

Vanderbilt knows how to score the basketball. It averages 72.9 points per game opposed to its opponents, who are averaging just 58.4 points per game.

When outscoring its opponents, it also knows how to move the ball around, dishing out 16.6 assists, four more than its opposition.

The big reason is how well Vanderbilt can rebound. It has outrebounded every opponent in SEC play thus far.

Despite the loss to Missouri, it only allowed one offensive rebound. If Vanderbilt can rebound at that high of a level, it will give it an edge in close contests.

One prediction:

Shea Ralph will win SEC Coach of the Year

Although it's early, it would be hard to make the argument that anyone else besides Shea Ralph should win SEC Coach of the Year.

Last season, Vanderbilt only won 12 games the entire year, and only three wins in the SEC.

It is completely different now. Ralph has already led her squad to 16 wins through 18 games. She already has three conference wins through the first four SEC games.

That matches last year's SEC win total with only having four conference games played.

Another big thing is the NCAA Tournament. That was one of her goals before the season started, and as of now, the Commodores are on pace to make the tournament.

If things continue the way they are going, it would be very difficult to not name Shea Ralph the SEC Coach of the Year.