The legend of Mikayla Blakes continues. The Vanderbilt women’s basketball team had lost three straight games and a fourth defeat in a row looked all but certain. Their last defeat was a double-overtime gut punch loss at home to Mississippi State in which Blakes played one of her worst games of the season.
Consider Blakes vindicated. The true freshman continues rewriting the record books and willed the Commodores back from 15 points down in the fourth quarter leading her team to a gritty, thrilling overtime win 98-88 at Auburn Sunday afternoon.
With 55 points, Blakes topped her own SEC/NCAA freshman scoring record – set earlier this season against Florida when she scored 53.
Auburn was in control for most of the contest, despite their leading scorer DeYona Gaston’s getting in foul trouble early. Gaston picked up her 2nd foul with 1:39 in the first quarter and her team up 18-12. The Commodores pulled to within one, 18-17 after the first quarter with Blakes and Pierre combining to score all the Commodores’ points in the first frame.
With Gaston on the bench, Vandy managed to pull ahead by one on a couple of occasions in the second quarter, 19-18, and 24-23, but Auburn’s Yuting Deng stepped up for the Tigers with Gaston sidelined scoring 14 first half points. Auburn had to feel pretty good going into the break with a 42-39 lead with their star player sitting the entire second quarter.
Gaston wasted little time in the second half, scoring the first six points for Auburn and helping the Tigers gradually extend their lead by as many as nine in the third quarter.
A 6-0 run brought the Commodores to within three, 58-55, but another quick five-point flurry by Deng helped the Tigers extend the lead back to 64-56 at the end of the third.
A Gaston layup with 6:55 left in the game gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the game at 15 with the score 74-59 and the Commodores looked finished – except Mikayla Blakes wasn’t having it.
The Commodores responded with an 16-5 flurry -- with Blakes accounting for 14 of those points (scoring 12 and an assist on a Leilani Kapinus layup) to pull within 79-75. With 1:32 remaining, Blakes was fouled and hit a pair of free throws to pull within 79-77, setting up a dramatic final minute and a half to regulation.
On the next possession, Kapinus blocked an Auburn three-point attempt and kept possession which set up a fast break layup for Pierre to tie the game at 79-79 with a minute left.
Auburn’s point guard Mar’shaun Bostic drew a shooting foul on Blakes setting up a pair of free throws to put Auburn back up 81-79 with 32 seconds.
With Blakes dribbling out the clock and apparently holding for a final shot, Vandy post Aiyana Mitchell was called for an illegal screen with 12.6 seconds left and it looked like the Commodores’ valiant comeback attempt would come up just short.
Auburn split a pair of free throws on the other end to go up 82-79 with 11 seconds left.
Blakes drew a foul and hit a pair of free throws to pull within 82-81. She then quickly fouled Bostic – her fourth foul of the game – who hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead back to three 84-81 with 7 second remaining.
Auburn did not elect to foul Vandy before attempting a shot which would have put the Commodores at the line for two, a decision Auburn coach Johnnie Harris would probably like to have back. Blakes managed to draw a foul from Bostic on a three-point attempt with less than a second remaining, also fouling Bostic out of the game.
With ice in her veins, Blakes hit all three free throws to tie the game 84-84 to send the game to overtime – the second straight overtime game for the Commodores.
Fortunately for the Commodores, the overtime period did not have the drama of regulation. Vandy carried their momentum into the extra period, scoring the first 9 points and cruising against an Auburn squad that appeared shell-shocked from what just happened.
The Commodore defense, which struggled most of the afternoon in allowing the Tigers to score the most points they’ve scored in an SEC game all season, stepped up when it counted. Vandy held the Tigers to just one field goal in the last six minutes of regulation, and one field goal in OT.
In her 55-point performance, which will be talked about for years to come, Blakes finished an astounding 23-24 from the free throw line. She shot 15-28 from the field, 2-7 from three-point range. Blakes also had 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
Pierre was the only other Commodore in double figures with 19 points on 8-18 from the field and 3-4 from the free throw line. She finished with 4 rebounds.
Deng, who recently joined Auburn’s team from China, hit four three pointers and finished with a career high 27 points to lead the Tigers. Despite foul trouble, Gaston finished with 25 points.
The comeback win was the largest for the Commodores since the 99-00 season, which was also a 15-point comeback. It also snapped the Tigers’ five straight wins over Vandy in Neville Arena
With the win, the Commodores are 19-7 for the season and pull back to 6-6 in the SEC. More Mikayla magic might be needed Thursday at 6:00 as the Commodores will try to build another win streak with a tough matchup against #16 Oklahoma in Norman.
