NASHVILLE – Union University’s Mark Campbell and Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes were voted Tennessee Sports Writers Association Women’s Basketball College Coach and Player of the Year, respectively, as announced this week by the organization. Campbell and Blakes will be honored at the annual TSWA Hall of Fame banquet on Thursday, July 10 in Baird Chapel at Cumberland University.
Campbell was named the Pat Summitt Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year, leading Union to a 33-4 overall record and reaching the NCAA Division II Elite Eight and the national semifinals in Pittsburgh, Pa. Union won the Gulf South Conference regular season title (10th in program history) with a 21-1 record as well as the Gulf South Conference Tournament title (7th in program history, fifth in the last six years).
Union earned the No. 1 seed and host of the NCAA D-II South Region Tournament, claiming that title as well to move on to the Elite Eight. Seventh-seeded Union won its national quarterfinal game, upsetting No. 2-seed Bentley, 80-66. Union won 19 straight games before ending its season in the national semifinals.
Campbell picked up his 750th career win with the victory in the national quarterfinals and has a career mark of 750-120 (.867). He was named the GSC Coach of the Year for the sixth time and was also a finalist for the WBCA National Coach of the Year. Campbell has been selected for induction into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville this June.
Blakes rewrote the NCAA, SEC and school record books in her first collegiate season. The guard was named the WBCA Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Year after leading all freshmen nationally in scoring with 23.3 points per game.
The Somerset, N.J., native earned All-America honors from seven different publications this postseason, making her the first Commodore since Jence Rhoads in 2010-11 to garner All-America accolades. Blakes was named the 2024-25 SEC Freshman of the Year and First Team All-SEC. She was twice named the AP Player of the Week and earned a total of four USBWA Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week honors this season.
Additionally, she was selected SEC Freshman of the Week seven times to set a Vanderbilt record for that award. On February 18, Blakes was named Co-SEC Player of the Week, becoming the first SEC freshman since Candace Parker to earn the SEC’s top weekly player award. The highlight of her season came at Auburn on Feb. 16 when she scored 55 points to set the NCAA freshman record for most points in a game. Her 55-point performance also set the SEC and Vanderbilt single-game scoring records.