Mikayla Blakes and Vanderbilt dominate in their home opener, beat Lipscomb 112-53

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Mikayla Blakes led five players in double-digit scoring with 27 points and No. 8 Vanderbilt beat Lipscomb 112-53 Monday in its season opener.

Blakes, a preseason All-American, also pulled down nine rebounds and had six assists for the Commodores (1-0, 0-0 Southeastern Conference).

Madison Greene added 19 points, while Aubrey Galvan had 16, Mia Woolfolk had 15 and Aiyana Mitchell had 10 against Lipscomb (0-1, 0-0 Atlantic Sun Conference).

Fresh off a Sweet 16 appearance for the first time since the 2008-09 season, Vanderbilt’s expectations for this season are high. The team’s preseason ranking at No. 8 is the highest since the Commodores opened the season at No. 3 in 2001.

Last season, Blakes won SEC Player of the Year, Galvan won SEC Freshman of the Year, and coach Shea Ralph won SEC Coach of the Year. For this year, the Commodores added some key transfers, including Woolfolk from Georgia, junior guard/forward Vernell Atamah from Northwestern State and graduate guard Saniya Glenn-Bello from Harvard.

The Commodores took over the game with 19-2 run in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 39-point lead.

Vanderbilt recorded 19 steals, forced 27 turnovers and scored 39 points off of turnovers.

Galvan led the way in assists with 11. The Commodores shot 60% from the field and 35% from 3-point range.

McKayla Miller led Lipscomb with 16 points and six rebounds while Tess Wiczek added 10 points and seven rebounds.

Lipscomb travels to face Butler on Thursday.

Vanderbilt hosts Queens University on Wednesday.

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