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.
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. Coach Shea Ralph was able to rest 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.
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.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
