Mikayla Blakes’ 34 points lead No. 5 Vanderbilt past Tennessee 87-77

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Mikayla Blakes scored 34 points to lead No. 5 Vanderbilt to a 87-77 victory over Tennessee on Sunday.

Blakes scored eight points in a 12-2 run late in the third quarter for the Commodores (27-3, 13-3 Southeastern Conference). Aubrey Galvan added 24 points and Sacha Washington had 16 points and eight rebounds.

The Volunteers (16-12, 8-8), who lost their sixth straight game, were led by Talaysia Cooper’s 23 points. Janiah Barker added 17 points and eight rebounds, Nya Robertson had 12 points and Zee Spearman 10.

Cooper scored 11 points in the second quarter — 14 in the opening half — to help Tennessee to a 43-37 lead at the break. Barker led the way with 15 points. Galvan had 12 and Blakes 11 for the Commodores.

While Tennessee, which is playing the toughest schedule in the country, came into the game unranked, Blakes has a streak of five consecutive games against ranked teams scoring 30 or more points. The win over the Vols was Vandy’s 13th SEC victory, the most in program history.

The Vols, meanwhile, are struggling. While on ESPN’s “College GameDay” Feb. 22, former Tennessee player Andraya Carter (2012-16) said the current team had “no belief” and didn’t know who to turn to. After Thursday’s loss to LSU, coach Kim Caldwell addressed the observation.

“I think that it’s fair for the most critical people of this program to be the people who have built this program,” Caldwell said.

Up next

Tennessee and Vanderbilt will play in the SEC tournament in Greenville, South Carolina, next week.

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