Shea Ralph and her Vanderbilt team got one last test before heading off to Palm Springs, California for the Acrisure Classic, as the Commodores took down the Samford Bulldogs 104-59 in Memorial Gym on Friday night. This the most points that Vanderbilt has scored in the game in the Shea Ralph era.
The victory also moves Vanderbilt to 6-0 for a second straight season. The last time that the Commodores started 6-0 in back-to back seasons was in 2003-04 and 2004-05.
After the Bulldogs kept things tight in the first quarter, even holding a 21-19 lead after the opening 10 minutes, Vanderbilt continued to get better and eventually ran away from the Bulldogs in the second half; even outscoring Samford 38-14 in the fourth quarter alone.
Vanderbilt's first quarter was mired by another slow start
For a second straight game, Vanderbilt didn't fire out of the gates the way you would've hoped; especially considering how Shea Ralph responded to her team's first quarter effort after Wednesday's win over Hampton.
Though the Commodores didn't look "lethargic" in the first quarter as Shea Ralph had described her team on Wednesday night, the Commodores struggled in terms of execution, compiling seven turnovers and giving Samford open looks that the Bulldogs would capitalize on, shooting 5 for 10 from three in the opening frame.
"Mistakes," Ralph detailed when asked about what she felt caused first quarter struggles.
"I felt like we were trying, we were efforting better today...well, too full, I thought we started that way. And then I felt like there was some miscommunication on defense, they got some wide open threes, and then I'm not sure if it was physical or mental but around the five-minute mark we looked exhausted to me. Exhausted. And I know there's no way because I know what they do in practice. There's no way we should feel that exhausted."
Vanderbilt was able to get things back in track in the second quarter, outscoring Samford 24-8, but back-to-back starts has to draw a little bit of concern for the Commodores heading into its toughest part of its non-conference schedule.
Madison Greene has solidified herself as Vanderbilt's first choice first off the bench
In a season where multiple players have made headlines this season for Vanderbilt, Madison Greene's play to start the year has been amongst the biggest. Greene, who came into Friday night as Vanderbilt's fourth leading scorer at 10.8 points per game, had another quality performance for the Commodores.
As the first player that Shea Ralph called off the bench, Greene put up 16 points on 7 for 9 shooting from the field. She's become a dynamo for the Commodores off the bench and has seemed to truly solidify her role as Vanderbilt's sixth in the rotation. Ralph talked about Greene after the game and how she has taken this role by the horns.
"It's hard not to have her in the game, she does a lot. I always told them when we're practicing like 'Hey, everybody wants to play'. I have 13 kids and they all wanna play. Make me put you in the game. Do things in practice that I have to like 'Yeah I have to put her in the game'. I feel that way about Madi. She's gotta be in the game, she takes pressure off Mikayla [Blakes] cause she can handle the ball and she can pick the ball up for court."
Not only has Greene proven to be a sound scorer for the Commodores in her role, but she's also proven to be a spark-plug for Vanderbilt off the bench, something that Ralph made sure to detail when talking about her.
"She's just a menace, ya know? She's just like a little bowling ball out there, she's all over the place, taking people out and I think the things that she does makes it a lot easier for our team behind her to do their jobs well."
Everyone pitched in for the Commodores tonight
Vanderbilt saw five players score into double figures. Khamil Pierre led the way for the Commodores with 21 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes, notching her fifth double-double of the season.
The bench production was what was especially encouraging to watch from the Commdoores. Vanderbilt's bench put up 43 points, being led by Madison Greene (16 points), Leilani Kapinus (11 points, 10 rebounds and six assists) and Aiyanna Mitchell (10 points).
This was with Mikayla Blakes not even having her best night shooting the ball, as she had a season-low of 14 points while shooting just 5 for 12 from the field. It was a total team effort for the Commodores, and it showed that they're a group that can have any player step up and perform well on any given night.
"One of the things that I know about really good teams is that you never know who's gonna step up night in and night out and I think we have the makings to be a really good team because we have so many pieces," Ralph said.
Vanderbilt also had a collective effort in its rebounding tonight. As a team, the Commodores dominated Samford on the glass, out-rebounding the Bulldogs 56-26, with 27 of those rebounds coming on offensive side of the floor. This has become a common trend for Vanderbilt, as the Commodores rank in the Top 50 nationally in rebounds per game and in the Top 30 national in offensive rebounds per game.
Four Vanderbilt players; Khamil Pierre (12), Leilani Kapinus (10), Jordyn Oliver (7) and Iyana Moore (6) all had six or more rebounds in the win.
The Commodores (6-0) will now fly out to Palm Springs, California for the Acrisure Classic, where they will face off against the Arizona Wildcats (5-1) on Tuesday at 3:30pm CT. They'll then face off against either Michigan State (6-0) or California (5-0) on Wednesday afternoon.
