Summary

• Despite a first loss to No. 3 South Carolina, No. 3 Vanderbilt women’s basketball remains one of the nation’s hottest teams at 20-1, proving it can compete with elite NCAA programs.
• The Commodores’ loss highlighted key areas for growth—especially limiting turnovers and playing through star guard Mikayla Blakes to steady the offense against top-tier defenses.
• Vanderbilt’s historic start and resilient response reinforce that one defeat does not derail its SEC title hopes or national contention momentum.

The Vanderbilt Commodores are off to their best season in program history. They’re 20-1 on the season, including 6-1 in conference play, and were one of only two remaining undefeated teams in the NCAA until a Jan. 25 loss against South Carolina.

And if you’re going to lose to anyone, let it be South Carolina. The No. 3 team in the nation is off to another dominant start under head coach Dawn Staley. They are forever a national contender.

Vanderbilt, ranked No. 3, handled their first loss from the dominant Gamecocks with grace. “I think we can learn a ton from a game like this,” head coach Shea Ralph said to Vanderbilt Athletics after the 103-74 game concluded. The team knew a first loss of the season was inevitable, but after leading South Carolina for the first quarter, they also showed themselves that they can compete against the top teams.

So, what should Vanderbilt make sure to take away from this game in order to keep up their successful streak? For starters, they can work on fixing their biggest issue from Sunday’s game, which was turnovers — they had 16 of them in just the first half.

The Gamecocks thrive on converting turnovers into transition points, and Commodores gave way to those conversions too quickly. It wasn’t a skill issue but rather a pressure issue for Vanderbilt — stronger decision-making and better protection of each possession will help the team avoid those mistakes when they go up against top talent in the future.

Another message for the Vanderbilt Commodores after Sunday’s loss: you have your best chance of winning when you get the ball to Mikayla Blakes. The sophomore guard is not just a scorer, but a force; she can draw fouls, confuse defenses, and score despite pressure. In games like this, you need your best player to not only score but also to settle the game down.

But above all, Vanderbilt should keep its head up. There’s absolutely no shame in losing to South Carolina, especially for this Vanderbilt team that hadn’t given up a single loss this entire season. SEC basketball is some of the most skilled in the country, but it can also be unpredictable. Just days before the Gamecocks beat the Commodores, they lost in overtime to No. 10 Oklahoma — even elite teams can be disrupted.

Vanderbilt’s fast start to the season does not disappear with one loss. If anything, this game should serve as motivation for the Commodores, showing them not only what they have to do to compete with the top teams but also the ceilings that the top teams themselves will hit.

“... You want to play games like this,” Ralph said to Vanderbilt Athletics. “There are all kinds of things that we can’t control … but the most important thing is how we respond to it, and that's what we are going to focus on.”