Vanderbilt women’s basketball advanced to the SEC Tournament quarterfinals for the first time since the 2015-16 season with an 84-76 win over No. 18 Tennessee on Thursday. The win marked the first time in program history that the Commodores defeated the Lady Vols twice in a single season.

Head coach Shea Ralph, however, wasn’t surprised, expressing confidence in her team’s ability to clinch the historic win.

“This is the first time in our program’s history beating Tennessee twice in one year, but we’re not done yet. This is just the beginning of March. We expected to win today and we’re excited to move on to tomorrow,” Ralph said, per vucommodores.com.

The Commodores (22-9) controlled much of the game, building an early 17-5 lead. Tennessee (22-9) responded with a 12-2 run in the second quarter to briefly take the lead at 32-31, but Vanderbilt regained control with a 13-0 run in the third quarter. Freshman Mikayla Blakes led the way for the Commodores with 24 points, continuing her streak of double-digit scoring games to 17 straight contests. Iyana Moore added 23 points, hitting four three-pointers.

Vanderbilt Commodores forward Aiyana Mitchell (14) celebrates against the Tennessee Lady Vols during the first half
© Scott Kinser-Imagn Images

Ralph praised Moore’s resilience and development throughout the season.

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“I want to say how excited we are to be moving on. I’m really proud of our team for their resilient effort today. I thought we had contributions from multiple people, but you can’t say enough about what Iyana Moore did for us today. She has gone through it here. We’ve been together since she arrived at Vanderbilt. I was really hard on her this year, and she is playing some of the best basketball of her career right now.”

Khamil Pierre added 16 points and 15 rebounds for Vanderbilt. The Commodores extended their lead to 20 points early in the fourth quarter, making their first four shots of the period. Tennessee attempted to rally late, but Vanderbilt made 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Vanderbilt women's basketball now holds a 50-38 all-time record in the SEC Tournament. The team advances to face top-seeded South Carolina in the quarterfinals on Friday. The Commodores previously lost to the Gamecocks 82-54 in their regular-season meeting on Feb. 23.

Reporting from the Associated Press contributed to this article.