Florida Women’s Basketball Falls To Vanderbilt On Record Shooting Night

The Florida Gators women’s basketball team fell to No. 23 Vanderbilt, 99-86, on Thursday at the O’Connell Center, its fourth consecutive loss to drop to 11-11 overall and 2-6 in the SEC.

The Commodores (18-4, 5-3) were led by guard Mikayla Blakes, who broke the NCAA single-game freshman scoring record and the SEC single-game scoring record with her 53-point performance. Blakes went 16-for-24 from the field and 16-for-18 from the free-throw line.

First-Half Takeaways

The Gators started strong, adding points to the scoreboard first thanks to a layup by guard Jeriah Warren. Florida went on to quickly gain points due to fouls by the Commodores. UF scored six points off of free throws in the first quarter, capitalizing on errors by Vanderbilt. 

However, Vanderbilt was not silent. The Commodores quickly regained the lead by playing aggressively and taking chances behind the paint. The Commodores had just more than 50% accuracy with 3-pointers, capitalizing on 11 out of 21 shots. 

By the end of the first half, Vanderbilt had pulled away. A 3-pointer by Blakes made the score 46-26 going into halftime. 

Fight To The Finish

Although the Commodores held a 20-point lead to start the second half, the Gators came out with momentum. Florida had struggled with turnovers. However, the Gators only turned it over five times in the second half.

Coach Kelly Rae Finley mentioned that turnovers were something the staff was focused on improving:

The Gators had four players with double-digit scoring, including center Ra Shaya Kyle with 19 points in the second half. Kyle also recorded her 11th double-double of the season.

Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph recognized the Gators’ drive:

“Credit to Florida because they never quit and kept coming back at us. They fought hard and they played hard,” Ralph said. “They made us really earn this one.”

However, the Gators’ second-half push was not enough to upset the ‘Dores.

Blakes scored 32 of her total in the second half in breaking the record held by Southern California guard JuJu Watkins of 51 last year. She also tied the O-Dome’s scoring record, sharing the 53 points in the arena with LSU’s Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (Chris Jackson) in 1988. The previous SEC record was also 51 by South Carolina’s Jocelyn Penn in 2003 and Tennessee’s Patricia Roberts in 1976.

.@mikaylablakes HOLDS THE NEW ALL-TIME SCORING RECORD FOR A FRESHMAN 😤

History maker. #NCAAWBB x @vandywbb pic.twitter.com/YbMdqJLNgA

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) January 31, 2025

Up Next

The Gators will have an opportunity to break their losing streak Monday at Arkansas (9-14, 2-6). Tip-off is at 7 p.m. ET and available for streaming on the SEC Network and airs on ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF at 6:40 p.m.