With Team USA performance, this SEC women’s basketball star is ready for her sophomore encore
Mikayla Blakes, voted the National Freshman of the Year by the USBWA, seems ready for a great sophomore season at Vanderbilt after leading Team USA to the AmeriCup gold medal.
The Americans remain on top in international women’s basketball, and Mikayla Blakes is a big reason why.
After settling for a silver medal at the tournament in 2023, Team USA beat Brazil on Sunday night in Santiago, Chile to win the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup, 92-84. The victory secures a spot for the Americans in the 2026 FIBA World Cup, which will be played next summer in Berlin, Germany — a competition Team USA has won four straight times.
Leading the Americans in Chile was the 19-year-old Blakes, a rising sophomore at Vanderbilt who was voted the Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association this past season. She led all scorers in the title game with 27 points to go along with six rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block.
Blakes was not only named Player of the Game, but MVP of the AmeriCup and earned a spot on the tournament’s All-Star Five. Playing an average of 22 minutes per game across seven contests, Blakes led Team USA in scoring with 14 points per game. She also averaged 3.4 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.7 assists.
MIKAYLA BLAKES VS BRAZIL
— Women’s Hoops Network (@WomensHoops_USA) July 7, 2025
• 27 POINTS
• 6 REBOUNDS
• 2 STEALS
• 24 MINUTES PLAYEDpic.twitter.com/tivxrLhODU
In the championship bout against a veteran-laden Brazil squad that featured a front line of WNBA players in Kamilla Cardoso and Damiris Dantas, Blakes scored 17 of her game-high point total in the first half. Early in the fourth quarter, the Americans trailed by one, but Blakes swished a 3-pointer to spark a 9-0 run that gave her team a manageable advantage.
All tournament long, Blakes dazzled defenses with acrobatic layups and sharp shooting from deep range. Blakes was second on the team to UCLA’s Gianna Kneepkens in 3-pointers made throughout the tournament with 11.
The performance for Blakes in Chile showed that she’s primed for an encore season as a sophomore. As a freshman, the New Jersey native was tabbed as a second-team All-American by the USBWA and a third-team All-American by the AP while also making the All-SEC First Team.
A 5-foot-8 product of Rutgers Prep, Blakes topped the 50-point mark twice in games last season, in wins over Auburn and Florida. The second time she did it, with 55 points at Auburn, she set an NCAA single-game scoring record by a freshman — surpassing the mark Elena Delle Donne set in 2010 at Delaware. Blakes finished the season ranking eighth nationally in scoring with 23.3 points per game and powered Vanderbilt to its second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, marking the first time the Commodores have played in March Madness back-to-back in a decade.
“I think the first time we realized that the year was going to be a special one was when we started our workouts in the summer and we recognized her level of play, her confidence and competitiveness, her will to win,” Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph said in March ahead of the Commodores’ NCAA Tournament game against Oregon in Durham, North Carolina. “The way that she came into our program, elevated our program, elevated everybody else on the team — it made everybody else better.”
Added Jordyn Oliver, now Vandy’s Director of Player Development: “Nothing she does surprises me. She came in Day One, cooking.”
To get Vanderbilt to a third straight NCAA Tournament, Blakes will likely have to play even better. From last season, the Commodores’ second, third and fourth-leading scorers are no longer on the roster. Iyana Moore transferred to Notre Dame, Oliver exhausted her eligibility and joined the staff, and Khamil Pierre is no longer on the team as of last week. Pierre and Blakes were the only teammates in Division I to each average at least 20 points per game last season.
The Commodores did add Aaliyah Del Rosario from LSU and Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda from Texas via the transfer portal, but Blakes is expected to be the bus driver for the Commodores in what is shaping up to be a very competitive Southeastern Conference once again.