Latest news with #Blakes
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Why Vanderbilt's March Madness disappointment is reminder of program's progress and needs
DURHAM, N.C. — Shea Ralph wants to think that her team underachieved in its overtime loss to Oregon in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Vanderbilt coach wants to think it was a shock that it played so poorly in the first half, eventually falling behind by 19 points. But this was the team the Commodores (22-11) were all season: wildly inconsistent, as prone to long droughts as big runs. Vanderbilt fought back from that deficit to force overtime, but Mikayla Blakes, Khamil Pierre and Leilani Kapinus all fouled out late in the game. Without those three, the Commodores couldn't make enough shots and lost to Oregon 77-73. "Some of these kids have never been in the NCAA tournament, and hopefully will come to many more," Ralph said. "And some, it's their first and last . . . For whatever reason, this team likes to fight out of a hole, and we dug ourselves a pretty big one, and then we showed up like the team that I truly believe we are for most of the second half. And unfortunately, we ran out of time." Ralph has revitalized the Commodores' program, taking it to back-to-back NCAA tournaments for the first time since 2013-14. Last season, when they were unsure if they would even qualify for the tournament and had to play in the First Four, they were just happy to be there. This season, earning a No. 7 seed with Blakes, the SEC Freshman of the Year, their early exit is a disappointment. Blakes had 26 points and five rebounds, but she fouled out of the game on a charge partway through overtime. Pierre, the team's other sparkplug this season, had 17 points and six rebounds but fouled out during the fourth quarter. JADA BROWN How Vanderbilt women's basketball's Jada Brown uses TikTok snack bags to help those in need Jordyn Oliver, the sixth-year senior who has been known for her ability to do the "little things" during her Vanderbilt career, put up 10 points and six rebounds. Kapinus, the defensive ace, had eight points and eight rebounds and hit the game-tying shot with four seconds remaining before she, too, fouled out in overtime. Oliver, who hopes to remain with the program in some capacity after graduating, exemplifies this era of Commodores basketball. A former McDonald's All-American, she started her career at Baylor, transferred to Duke, then landed at Vanderbilt. "When people look at the additions that we're making to our roster . . . they're like, Oh, I wonder why she chose there,' " Ralph said. "So she helped lay the foundation in that way where now, because she chose to come to Vanderbilt, when she could have gone anywhere, people are starting to turn their heads . . . "She's just a really great human being. So that helps us now recruit other really great human beings and other players, whether they're in high school or they go into the transfer portal that maybe just didn't find the right fit the first or second time, and then she can talk to them about what we've been able to do here." Most of the Commodores' key pieces have eligibility remaining. Sacha Washington, the post player who missed the entire season with a blood clot, has already stated her intention to return to Vanderbilt for a fifth year. Blakes is a freshman and Pierre is a sophomore. Senior Iyana Moore, who missed the 2022-23 season with a torn ACL, also has a year remaining, should she choose to use it. Perhaps the Commodores can use their increased recent success to try to lure top players in the portal, which opens Monday. All season, Vanderbilt struggled to defend on the interior. Opposing post players often had their way. And though the Commodores mostly contained 6-foot-8 Ducks center Phillipina Kyei, who had seven points and nine rebounds, Oregon outscored Vanderbilt by six with her on the floor. "When I left (Duke), I didn't know if I wanted to play basketball anymore," Oliver said. "I remember the day Coach Ralph called me . . . I sat on the phone with her for an hour and a half, and I said, that woman's going to be my coach. . . . I'm forever in debt to Coach Ralph because she believed in me when I didn't believe in myself." That care and vision for the program likely will take Ralph and Commodores far. But now begins a long offseason where they have to retain stars like Blakes and Pierre and get the right pieces around them that Vanderbilt simply didn't have to get to the finish line. Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@ or on X, formerly Twitter, @aria_gerson. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt women's basketball, transfer portal needs after March Madness
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Star rookies in Vanderbilt's Blakes, Duke's Fournier headline Durham site
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — After the first day of summer workouts for Vanderbilt, Jordyn Oliver had to call her dad and tell him about her new teammate, Mikayla Blakes. There was just something about her that was different. 'She came in Day One, cooking,' Oliver says. 'She's a hooper, a dawg.' Blakes has proven to be anything but an ordinary rookie for the Commodores, who are the No. 7 seed in the Birmingham 2 regional and open the NCAA Tournament against No. 10 Oregon on Friday at Duke. Blakes is eighth in the nation in scoring with 23.2 points per game. But she isn't the only stellar youngster at this site for the NCAA Tournament's opening weekend. While Blakes won the SEC Freshman of the Year award, Duke forward Toby Fournier was voted ACC Rookie of the Year. The Blue Devils are seeded second and will face No. 15 Lehigh. Fournier, a 6-foot-2 forward from Toronto, Canada, gained attention before stepping on Duke's campus for dunking videos that went viral. She has yet to throw down a slam this season for the Blue Devils but leads the ACC champs in scoring with 13.4 points per game, doing so in just 19.9 minutes per game. A better assessment of her impact is that she averages 27.0 points per 40 minutes, which ranks 14th nationally. Blakes grabbed the spotlight this season with awesome offensive performances. The 5-foot-8 guard from New Jersey piled up 53 points in a Jan. 30 win at Florida, then poured in 55 points in a Feb. 16 victory at Auburn. Not only did Blakes set the NCAA single-game points record for a freshman – surpassing Delaware's Elena Delle Donne – but she joined Mississippi Valley State's Patricia Hoskins as the only players to score 53 points or more twice in a season. 'I think she's a great player and a great competitor,' Fournier said of Blakes, adding that the two played against each other in youth basketball at different camps and AAU tournaments. Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph knew that Blakes had the potential to be special when she was recruiting her. 'We recognized her level of play, her confidence and competitiveness, her will to win,' Ralph said. 'She has elevated our standard.' Carolina Connections While a potential Sweet 16 matchup with their rival looms, the Blue Devils can easily see connections to the North Carolina Tar Heels all throughout this site. The coach of Lehigh, Addie Micir, played for UNC's Courtney Banghart at Princeton. Ralph's mother, Marsha Lake (Mann) starred for UNC in the early 1970s and was the program's first All-American. And Oregon's point guard is Deja Kelly, who played for UNC for four seasons before joining the Ducks. Kelly is 2-1 in Cameron Indoor Stadium and is all too familiar with the jeers from the Cameron Crazies. 'This is, of course, a historic building, a historic gym,' Kelly said. 'I'm excited to be back here with a different squad.' Duke cautious of Lehigh In the 2012 men's NCAA Tournament, No. 15 Lehigh upset Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils 75-70. Now, 13 years later, Duke coach Kara Lawson reminded her team of the shared history between these two squads on Thursday morning. 'You have to have the appropriate fear every time you go into a game. Like, you have to know that you can be beaten,' Lawson said. 'If you don't think it's possible at all, you'll slip in your preparation.' Lehigh is the best free throw shooting team in the nation, knocking down 81.1% of their charity stripe attempts this season. Clash of styles Oregon and Vanderbilt have found success in different ways. The Commodores like to play up-tempo and get up a lot of shots. They're seventh in the nation in scoring with 83.6 points per game. The Ducks like to muck up contests and lean on defense. They're outside of the top 250 teams in 3-pointers attempted this season but are 33rd nationally in defensive rating. 'It's a contrast of styles,' Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. 'We want to grind it out. They want to get out and go. If we have to get out and go with them, we're in trouble.' ___ AP March Madness bracket: and coverage: Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. Mitchell Northam, The Associated Press
Associated Press
20-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Star rookies in Vanderbilt's Blakes, Duke's Fournier headline Durham site
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — After the first day of summer workouts for Vanderbilt, Jordyn Oliver had to call her dad and tell him about her new teammate, Mikayla Blakes. There was just something about her that was different. 'She came in Day One, cooking,' Oliver says. 'She's a hooper, a dawg.' Blakes has proven to be anything but an ordinary rookie for the Commodores, who are the No. 7 seed in the Birmingham 2 regional and open the NCAA Tournament against No. 10 Oregon on Friday at Duke. Blakes is eighth in the nation in scoring with 23.2 points per game. But she isn't the only stellar youngster at this site for the NCAA Tournament's opening weekend. While Blakes won the SEC Freshman of the Year award, Duke forward Toby Fournier was voted ACC Rookie of the Year. The Blue Devils are seeded second and will face No. 15 Lehigh. Fournier, a 6-foot-2 forward from Toronto, Canada, gained attention before stepping on Duke's campus for dunking videos that went viral. She has yet to throw down a slam this season for the Blue Devils but leads the ACC champs in scoring with 13.4 points per game, doing so in just 19.9 minutes per game. A better assessment of her impact is that she averages 27.0 points per 40 minutes, which ranks 14th nationally. Blakes grabbed the spotlight this season with awesome offensive performances. The 5-foot-8 guard from New Jersey piled up 53 points in a Jan. 30 win at Florida, then poured in 55 points in a Feb. 16 victory at Auburn. Not only did Blakes set the NCAA single-game points record for a freshman – surpassing Delaware's Elena Delle Donne – but she joined Mississippi Valley State's Patricia Hoskins as the only players to score 53 points or more twice in a season. 'I think she's a great player and a great competitor,' Fournier said of Blakes, adding that the two played against each other in youth basketball at different camps and AAU tournaments. Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph knew that Blakes had the potential to be special when she was recruiting her. 'We recognized her level of play, her confidence and competitiveness, her will to win,' Ralph said. 'She has elevated our standard.' Carolina Connections While a potential Sweet 16 matchup with their rival looms, the Blue Devils can easily see connections to the North Carolina Tar Heels all throughout this site. The coach of Lehigh, Addie Micir, played for UNC's Courtney Banghart at Princeton. Ralph's mother, Marsha Lake (Mann) starred for UNC in the early 1970s and was the program's first All-American. And Oregon's point guard is Deja Kelly, who played for UNC for four seasons before joining the Ducks. Kelly is 2-1 in Cameron Indoor Stadium and is all too familiar with the jeers from the Cameron Crazies. 'This is, of course, a historic building, a historic gym,' Kelly said. 'I'm excited to be back here with a different squad.' Duke cautious of Lehigh In the 2012 men's NCAA Tournament, No. 15 Lehigh upset Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils 75-70. Now, 13 years later, Duke coach Kara Lawson reminded her team of the shared history between these two squads on Thursday morning. 'You have to have the appropriate fear every time you go into a game. Like, you have to know that you can be beaten,' Lawson said. 'If you don't think it's possible at all, you'll slip in your preparation.' Lehigh is the best free throw shooting team in the nation, knocking down 81.1% of their charity stripe attempts this season. Clash of styles Oregon and Vanderbilt have found success in different ways. The Commodores like to play up-tempo and get up a lot of shots. They're seventh in the nation in scoring with 83.6 points per game. The Ducks like to muck up contests and lean on defense. They're outside of the top 250 teams in 3-pointers attempted this season but are 33rd nationally in defensive rating. 'It's a contrast of styles,' Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. 'We want to grind it out. They want to get out and go. If we have to get out and go with them, we're in trouble.'
New York Times
20-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
How Vanderbilt landed the record-setting freshman who might shock women's March Madness
Shea Ralph was on the Vanderbilt team bus, making the short trip home from Knoxville to Nashville after another installment of the Commodores rivalry with the Lady Vols. Her Vanderbilt team had come so close on this January 2024 day, losing by just nine points in the final three minutes after seven ties and five lead changes. Advertisement All things considered, Ralph felt good as she reflected on the game during the ride home. She'd left her post as a UConn assistant and taken the Vanderbilt job in April 2021 to see if she could build the program back to its glory days from the '90s. Nobody thought the Commodores could come that close against the storied Lady Vols on the road. 'I'm like, 'Damn, we're right there,'' Ralph said she thought as the bus headed toward a gas station for a quick snack break. ''But we're not there.'' Then Ralph's phone rang. A FaceTime call that would change everything. Mikayla Blakes, the five-star guard out of Somerset, N.J., was prepared to issue her college commitment the next day in a ceremony at her Rutgers (N.J.) Prep School, just hours before her senior night game. Ralph and her staff knew they had a chance. They'd been recruiting Blakes for two years, had hosted her and her family on an official visit a few months prior and knew Ralph's vision for the program had the Commodores squarely in Blakes' top seven. But Blakes had ignored text messages from both Ralph and assistant coach Kevin DeMille when they'd reached out a few days earlier, asking if they should reserve Vanderbilt's private plane to fly them to the occasion. Her silence was unsettling. Now she was calling. As Ralph answered, she saw Blakes, flanked by her family, come into view. All of them were decked out in Vanderbilt T-shirts. 'I was like, 'I want to commit to you guys,'' Blakes recalled, revealing that she'd ignored Ralph's and DeMille's text messages only because she wanted to surprise them the day before her announcement. 'That was just one of the best feelings, just to see their reaction jumping on the bus.' In the moment, Ralph could feel how seminal landing a recruit of Blakes' caliber was. Blakes, the nation's No. 8 prospect by ESPN, would be the highest-rated signee of her career. The type of player who planned to change the program's trajectory. Her first five-star. Advertisement 'I almost passed out,' Ralph said, laughing. 'I got off the phone and I immediately called our athletic director (Candice Storey Lee) and then we celebrated while I'm in the gas station, up and down the aisles (yelling), 'Yes, girl!'' Fourteen months later, Blakes has kept her promise, making good on her word to help return the Commodores to the national stage as they seek a Final Four berth for the first time since 1993. She hit a game-winner against Tennessee in January, giving Vanderbilt its first win over the Lady Vols since 2019. She also dropped 53 points at Florida in January, only to casually break her own SEC and Division I freshman scoring records by pouring in 55 points at Auburn two weeks later — including 30 points in the final 10 minutes of game time. She's averaging 23.2 points per game, just won SEC Freshman of the Year honors and will no doubt top the scouting report for every opposing coach tasked with trying to limit her in the NCAA Tournament. As March Madness opens this week, and the No. 7-seeded Commodores travel to Durham, N.C., to take on No. 10 seed Oregon in the first round, Blakes will take center stage as one of the sport's most electric stars. — Vanderbilt WBB (@VandyWBB) February 16, 2025 'It's not just about her. But what's in store for Vanderbilt, what's in store for women's basketball, what's in store for the young little girls and young little boys who come up to her,' Blakes' mother, Nikkia, said. 'She has created history,' her father, Monroe, added. 'She makes the extraordinary things look ordinary right now.' Blakes didn't start seriously playing basketball until she was about 12. From ages 3 to 9, she excelled as a dancer. Then she bopped over to the track, where her family said her time in the 800-meter run as an 11-year-old ranked top 15 nationally for her age group. But something felt missing. 'I remember coming home one evening and the babysitter telling … me to sit down. Mikayla had something to tell me,' Nikkia recalled. 'And Mikayla then shared that she no longer wanted to run track. She had a love and passion for basketball. For me as a mom, it's always about just understanding the passion and what your children want to do.' Advertisement Nikkia and Monroe assured Mikayla that evening they'd support their daughter's desire to switch sports on two conditions. One: Basketball had to be something Mikayla genuinely wanted to choose for herself and not an obligation she felt pressured to pursue because Monroe — a member of the Hall of Fame at Division II St. Michael's College in Vermont — and older brother, Jaylen — now a guard at Stanford — both played. Two: Blakes would have to personally call her track and field coaches to inform them of her change of heart. 'I just saw my brother playing, just his passion for the game, and I liked running, but I'd rather do something with the running rather than running in a circle on a track,' Blakes said. 'I was like, OK. I think I can do basketball.' Monroe and Nikkia wasted no time finding a grassroots team for their daughter, whose reputation would soon precede her. Mary Klinger has coached girls basketball for 40-plus years at both the grassroots and high school level as the head coach at Rutgers Prep and has sent 100-plus players to the college ranks. But when Blakes came through Klinger's seventh-grade grassroots team, it was immediately apparent that this North Jersey up-and-comer was not her typical player. '(Organizers) were like, 'Oh God, there's this kid, Mikayla Blakes. Wait till you see her,'' Klinger recalled. 'We had a practice, and yeah, your eyes went right to her because she's so athletic and she's just quick.' As Blakes progressed through middle school, she won three summer national championships on Klinger's grassroots team and earned her first scholarship offer from nearby Rutgers as an eighth-grader. By ninth grade, she was a day-one starter for Rutgers Prep's varsity team. And by 10th grade, she helped deliver the program a state championship. When critics questioned her ability to knock down 3-pointers, she began going to the gym with Monroe at 6 a.m. to work on shooting before school. When pundits wondered if she'd be able to effectively drive left to keep defenders honest with her off hand, she quietly went to work, becoming one of the greatest rim attackers Klinger had ever seen. It didn't hurt that competing with Jaylen and the boys in her neighborhood also instilled a level of toughness that is still her brother's favorite part of little sis' game. Advertisement 'The thing that really stood out to us,' Monroe said, 'was her competitive nature. Her competitive drive to get better. She had that when she picked up the basketball.' It wasn't long before Blakes soon became a five-star prospect, competing at the highest level of high school basketball. She dropped 34 points as a junior in a heartbreaking loss against Paul VI (N.J.) Catholic High — the home of Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo — and went on to average 20.4 points per game with 3.6 steals and 3.2 assists as a senior. As a McDonald's All-American, it became obvious that Blakes could play college basketball anywhere in the country. Her phone rang constantly once power-conference coaches were permitted to contact her. 'To be honest,' she said, 'I didn't know anything about Vanderbilt. … I didn't even know where Vanderbilt was located.' It would be up to Ralph and her staff to change that. Blakes had an idea of how the recruitment process worked, having had a front-row seat when Jaylen eventually committed to Duke before transferring to Stanford. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, much of Jaylen's recruitment took place via Zoom. That taught Mikayla and her parents an invaluable lesson when it was her turn: In-person unofficial visits were crucial. 'We met some amazing coaches and staffs and visited some amazing universities,' Nikkia said. 'But the one thing that we kept telling her was, 'Your heart will tell you.'' Blakes eventually narrowed her list to seven schools: Vanderbilt, Indiana, Stanford, UCLA, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Rutgers. When she elected not to sign during the early signing period, Ralph had a hunch why. 'They're waiting to see. They want to see if we're going to win,'' she said she thought. 'And I understood the importance of that.' Midway through the process, Klinger called Ralph with some advice. Advertisement 'I said, 'Look, if you want this kid, you have got to get a personal relationship with her. She wants a relationship with the head coach,'' Klinger said. ''Your assistants are wonderful. But she wants to get to know you.'' Ralph took that to heart. By playing for and coaching under UConn's Geno Auriemma — with whom she won a national title in 2000 as the Big East Player of the Year — she learned first-hand how to win on the recruiting trail. The first time she and Blakes hopped on the phone together, they chatted at length as the typically reserved Blakes noticed how easy it felt to open up to Ralph. Ralph also did her part by taking frequent visits to New Jersey to nurture a relationship with the entire family. Together, she pitched Blakes, they could take Vanderbilt to places it hadn't been in several decades. Before Ralph's hiring, the Commodores hadn't earned an NCAA Tournament bid since 2013-14 and hadn't had a winning season since 2014-15. Ralph improved from 12 wins in Year 2 to 20-plus in Years 3 and 4. 'I feel like I always had a little feeling,' Blakes said. 'You know how people say when you step on campus, you'll know? You'll get that feeling? I definitely felt that at Vanderbilt. 'I understand it now.' Blakes took her official visit to Vanderbilt in the fall of 2023. Ultimately her decision came down to her relationship with the coaching staff, the opportunity to pursue a potential career in medicine at a top university — she finished her first semester at Vanderbilt with a 3.9 GPA — NIL opportunities in and around Nashville and most importantly, the chance to help make some history. Ralph credited assistant coach Kevin DeMille as the difference-maker — he discovered her long before she was a five-star and made frequent trips to New Jersey to watch her play. Advertisement 'The easier path, the easier choice, is to go to UConn or South Carolina or Notre Dame,' Ralph said. 'I talked to her about legacy. … Together, we can do something really, really cool.' 🚨FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE🚨 5⭐️ recruit Mikayla Blakes (@mikaylablakes) (#10 in the Class of 2024) has announced her commitment to Vanderbilt (@VandyWBB) Her other finalists included Tennessee, Rutgers, Stanford, Wisconsin, UCLA & Indiana. — E J 🏀 (@EJayArrow) January 22, 2024 Earlier this month, after Vanderbilt lost to South Carolina in the SEC tournament, Blakes had a few days off for spring break. She traveled with her parents from Greenville, S.C., to Louisville, Ky., to watch Jaylen's Stanford team take on the Cardinals. As they left for the airport early in the morning after the game, Blakes and her dad rewatched the game repeatedly, even in their Uber. 'That's the norm for her,' Nikkia said. That attention to detail will serve Blakes well this week, as Vanderbilt looks to make some noise in the tournament. Beating Oregon would give the Commodores 23 wins for the second consecutive season and the first time since 2008-09 and 2009-10. Round 2 would likely pit Vanderbilt against No. 2 Duke on the Blue Devils' home floor as they earned a tournament hosting site. On the heels of her 53- and 55-point performances, Blakes has just the right amount of swagger to keep opponents on their toes. Monroe and Nikkia will be there to support her all the way through. 'It's really amazing, but a testament to all the work she does. A testament to coach Ralph and the team,' Monroe said. As she goes, so too will the Commodores — who have big plans. 'Championships. Championships. Winning,' Ralph said. 'She is going to do things that have never been done before. She already has. And we are going to do things that have never been done before. 'That's why she and I are both here.' (Photo of Mikayla Blakes: Johnnie Izquierdo / Getty Images)
USA Today
17-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
5 women's NCAA Tournament players to watch who aren't JuJu Watkins
By now, pretty much everyone knows JuJu Watkins can single-handedly blow up a game. In USC's first meeting with UCLA, Watkins scored or assisted on all but eight of the Trojans' 24 points in the fourth quarter. And of those eight points she didn't have a hand in, four were free throws. Watkins also had five of her eight — eight! — blocks in the fourth quarter, as well as a steal. What had been a five-point UCLA lead became a decisive, 11-point USC win over the then-No. 1 and previously unbeaten Bruins. "JuJu was otherworldly,' USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said after that game. "When you see it happen, it's one of those magical times.' For USC, sure. For its opponents, Watkins is a whole lot of trouble. She's not the only one, however. Here are five other players besides Watkins who can make life unbearable for their opponents in the upcoming NCAA tournament: Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt If you like being ahead of the curve, keep your eyes on Mikayla Blakes. Blakes set the NCAA's freshman single-game scoring record with 55 points against Auburn last month, two weeks after she'd dropped 53 on Florida. At 23.2 points per game, Blakes is seventh in the nation in scoring. Oh, she's also a big reason Vanderbilt was able to snap an eight-game losing streak to Tennessee in January, grabbing a rebound and scoring the last-second put-back in the 71-70 win. Blakes tormented Tennessee again in the SEC tournament, scoring a game-high 24 as the Commodores beat the Vols twice in a season for the first time. Paige Bueckers, UConn Bueckers is probably the most complete player in college basketball right now. Score, set her teammates up, defend — she can read the game as well as anyone and will play whatever role UConn needs her to to win the game. She's also going to take care of the ball, leading the country with a 3.90 assist-to-turnover ratio. In other words, Bueckers is never going to beat herself, so opponents are going to have to find a way to beat her. Ta'Niya Latson, Florida State That Latson is going to get her points is a given. She leads the nation in scoring, at 24.9 points a game, and her nine points against Duke in the regular-season finale was only the second time in 47 games that she was held below double figures. (To be fair, the other came in a non-conference game in which she only played 11 minutes because of an injury. And Latson still scored eight points.) What makes Latson so dangerous, though, is that she's a problem wherever she is on the court. If she doesn't have a shot, she'll find a teammate who does, doling out an average of 4.7 assists a game. She's also averaging 2.2 steals and has 13 blocks this season. Harmoni Turner, Harvard My word is the finalist for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year award having herself a March! Turner is averaging just over 31 points a game so far this month. That includes a 44-point effort against Princeton on Friday night that broke Turner's own Harvard record for a single game and lifted the Crimson to the Ivy Madness title game. Turner was dealing again in the championship game, scoring a game-high 24 and taking a big offensive foul down the stretch in Harvard's 74-71 win against Columbia. The win assured the Crimson of their first NCAA tournament berth since 2007. Hailey Van Lith, TCU Van Lith got no shortage of grief last year for not having the same success at LSU that she'd had at Louisville. That wasn't really fair, given Van Lith was being asked to play a different position and in a system not built for her. But she's flourished at TCU, reminding people of why she was once considered one of the best players in college basketball. She's averaging 17.9 points per game and her 46% shooting percentage is the best of her career. Her average of 5.3 assists is 1.5 per game better than her previous career best. That's just bonkers.
