These women’s basketball players posted big-time performances and were named to the NCAA.com starting five this week.
Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt freshman sensation Mikayla Blakes once again rewrote the NCAA and Southeastern Conference women’s basketball record books this past Sunday, registering a 55-point performance at Auburn that set the all-time freshman single-game scoring record.
Blakes shot a blistering 53.6 percent from the field (15-of-28) and made an SEC record 23 free throws in a 98-88 overtime win at Auburn. The 55 points scored by Blakes is tied for the ninth-most in a single game in NCAA women’s basketball history. She matches Patrica Hoskins of Mississippi Valley State, who scored 55 points twice in 1988-89. Blakes joins Hoskins as the only two NCAA Division I women’s basketball players ever to have multiple 53-point scoring performances in the same season.
Earlier this season, Blakes scored 53 points at Florida on Jan. 30 to set the then-NCAA and SEC true freshmen scoring records. She is the first NCAA freshman and the fourth NCAA Division I player since 1999-00 to have multiple 50-point games in the same season.
Vanderbilt started the week by dropping an 85-77 double overtime decision to Mississippi State at home on Feb. 14. It was the first double overtime game at Memorial Gymnasium in over 35 years, with Blakes scoring 13 points.
Over the two games, Blakes averaged 34.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 4.5 steals.
Vanderbilt, 19-7 overall and 6-6 in SEC play, will return to play on Feb. 20 at Oklahoma.
Katie Dinnebier, Drake
Drake point guard Katie Dinnebier had a historic week as the Bulldogs earned a pair of road wins at Murray State and Belmont, averaging an impressive 31.5 points, 7.5 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 57% from the floor and 48% from 3-point range.
The senior point guard opened her week with 21 points, seven assists, six rebounds and four steals in a 92-86 win over Murray State.
In Saturday’s 88-83 win at Belmont, Dinnebier posted a career-high 42 points, including nine made threes, while dishing out eight assists. Her 42 points marked a Curb Event Center single-game record, men’s or women’s, and she became the second player in Division I to record two 40-plus point performances this season.
Dinnebier is the only player in the country averaging at least 20.0 points and 7.0 assists per game, sitting at 20.8 points and 7.6 assists per outing. Dinnebier and the Bulldogs, 17-8 overall and 11-3 in Missouri Valley Conference play, are home this week for games against Southern Illinois on Feb. 20, before welcoming Missouri State on Feb. 22.
Taleyah Jones, Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts junior guard Taleyah Jones averaged 29.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game during a 2-0 week for the Golden Eagles. In a 105-74 road win over Omaha on Feb. 12, Jones set a season-high in points, scoring 30 points for Oral Roberts while becoming the first Golden Eagle to drop 30 points in a game this season. In her season-high performance, she shot 52 percent (12-for-23) from the floor, pulled down five rebounds and dished out a pair of assists. Jones followed up her 30-point game with a 28-point performance in the 109-88 victory over Kansas City on Saturday. For the second consecutive game, she shot 52 percent (11-for-21) from the floor on her way to 28 points. Jones also grabbed six rebounds and tallied three assists in the win over the Kangaroos.
Oral Roberts, 20-6 overall and 10-3 in the Summit League, will next host North Dakota on Feb. 20.
Jewel Spear, Tennessee
Tennessee’s Jewel Spear continued an incredible stretch of shooting, hitting 70 percent of her field goal attempts and 66.7 percent beyond the 3-point line on her way to averaging 22.5 points in No. 15 Tennessee’s victories over Auburn and Ole Miss last week.
Against Auburn on Feb. 13, Spear made five of nine shots from the field, including a 5-for-8 night from three-point range, and went two of two at the free-throw line to lead her team with 17 points in a 99-61 victory. She also added four assists, three rebounds and two steals to her stat line against the Tigers.
On Sunday against Ole Miss, Spear scorched the nets for 28, connecting on nine of 11 shots, including 5-of-7 accuracy beyond the arc, and five of six charity shots. It marked the fifth time in 2024-25 that Spear had made five or more treys in a game.
With those efforts, Spear improved her scoring average in SEC play to 15.4 points per game over 12 games, fueled by 52-percent shooting from the field (59-113), 51.9-percent beyond the arc (40-77) and 81.8-percent accuracy at the charity stripe (27-33).
Tennessee, 19-6 overall and 6-6 in the SEC, will next host Alabama on Feb. 20.
JuJu Watkins, Southern California
Southern California sophomore guard JuJu Watkins was instrumental as the Trojans notched two important Big Ten Conference victories last week.
Her best outing of the season came in arguably Southern California’s biggest game of the season — a 71-58 home victory over previously undefeated and top-ranked rival UCLA. Watkins, with 38 points in the game, became the first player at the Division I collegiate, WNBA and NBA levels since 2000 to score 38 points, 11 rebounds, eight blocks and five assists in a single game.
Across that win and Southern California’s 69-64 road victory at Washington on Sunday, Watkins averaged 27.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 4.0 blocks, 1.0 steals while shooting 60 percent (9-of-15) from 3-point range, 42.5 percent overall and 80 percent (12-of-15) from the free-throw line.
With her 38 points vs. UCLA and 17 points at Washington, Watkins has scored in double figures in all 25 games this season. She also scored her 1,500th career point during the UCLA win, and she now ranks No. 13 all-time in scoring at Southern California with 1,524 career points.
The 38-point outburst was Watkins’ 19th career 30-point game (fifth this season). Also with 11 rebounds against UCLA, Watkins recorded her sixth double-double this season and 15th as a Trojan. What’s more, Watkins put up a career-high eight blocks vs. the Bruins — third-most in a game by a Trojan — and her six 3-pointers made vs. UCLA tied for the third most threes made by a Trojan in a game. With three more 3-pointers made at Washington, Watkins has hit at least one three in the last 20 games.
Southern California’s 71-58 win over No. 1 UCLA was the Trojans’ first over an Associated Press top-ranked opponent since 1983 and second all-time. Southern California has recorded 23 regular-season wins in back-to-back seasons — last achieved in the 1983 and 1984 seasons.
Watkins and the Trojans have two ranked opponents coming to Galen Center this week as the regular season finale draws closer. The No. 4 Trojans (23-2, 13-1 Big Ten) are set to host No. 22 Michigan State on Feb. 19 and No. 25 Illinois on Sunday.
