High Point Panthers at Vanderbilt Commodores

Blakes scores 30 as Vanderbilt women open March Madness routing High Point in NCAA Tournament

Vanderbilt (28-4) came in with the most victories in program history and remains undefeated at home this season. Now they play either seventh-seeded Illinois or No. 10 seed Colorado (22-11) on Monday night for a spot in the Sweet 16 of the Fort Worth 1 Region.

Sacha Washington had 10 points and 17 rebounds, and Aubrey Galvan added 17 points. Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda added 10 as 11 Commodores had at least a point.

It was the most points scored in an NCAA game by Vanderbilt in its 30th tournament, and coach Shea Ralph said it was important to start out on the right foot before their fans.

"This has been the vision for us and being able to actually experience that today with our team and that dream of our team today was really cool and understanding like, ‘OK, they’re bringing that energy. We have to put on a great show,'” Ralph said. “We got to come out here and honor that by how we play.”

High Point (27-6) won both the Big South's regular-season title and tournament championship for the Panthers' second straight and third NCAA berth overall. Macy Spencer, a transfer from UNLV, did her best to keep the Panthers close with 22 of her 27 points in the first half.

“Man, we definitely played a really good team tonight,” High Point coach Chelsea Banbury said. “Vandy's a tough group to defend. We had a pretty good game plan coming into it, but they knocked down a lot of tough shots. They were able to separate early, but I'm really proud of our girls. I think we competed for 40 minutes.”

In the second meeting between the programs, Vanderbilt won more easily than on Dec. 4, 2011, opening with a 16-3 run.

“I feel like we came out wanting to defend our home court and prove to everybody that we deserved the seed that we had ..." Blakes said.

Blakes came in as the nation's scoring leader averaging 27 points a game. She had 13 points as Vanderbilt jumped to a 30-13 lead after the first quarter. Blakes needed 19 points to set the mark for the best single-season scoring mark in program history, and she had 23 by halftime.

That put the Commodores up 54-32. Blakes played only five minutes in the third quarter as Vanderbilt outscored High Point 27-15 for an 81-47 lead. Ralph rested her starters much of the fourth.

More on Blakes' night Blakes came back for a couple minutes in the fourth and finished with a pair of free throws for her 51st consecutive game scoring in double figures. That's the longest streak in the Southeastern Conference, and she came into this game with the third-longest active streak in Division I.

Paint dominance Vanderbilt led the Southeastern Conference making an average of 9.7 3-pointers per game. The Commodores didn't have to shoot away against a High Point squad featuring only one player taller than 6-foot-1. They smothered the boards 56-26 outscoring the Panthers 46-30 in the paint.

Washington tied Vanderbilt's NCAA mark for rebounds in a game set by Karen Booker in 1987 against James Madison.

Home-court advantage Hosting for the first time since 2012, the Commodores improved to 15-2 all-time when playing at Memorial.

Up next High Point has two seniors and a pair of graduates on the roster. Coach Chelsea Banbury showed the ability to reload quickly for this season adding three freshmen and three through the portal including Spencer.

Vanderbilt lost the last time the Commodores hosted a second-round game as a No. 7 seed in 2012. A win Monday night would cinch the first Sweet 16 berth since 2009.

How can I watch Panthers vs. Commodores?

• TV Channel: Panthers vs Commodores 2021 College Basketball, week , is broadcasted on ESPNEWS.
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Location: Nashville, TN
Attendance: 5,527 | Capacity: