Blakes scores 30 as Vanderbilt women open March Madness routing High Point in NCAA Tournament
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — All-American Mikayla Blakes scored 23 of her 30 points by halftime as the second-seeded Vanderbilt Commodores routed No. 15 seed High Point 102-61 on Saturday night to open the women's 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. 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 them close with 22 of her 27 points in the first half. In the second meeting between the programs, Vanderbilt won more easily than on Dec. 4, 2011.
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.