Mizzou women’s basketball gives offseason update

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

First year women's basketball coach Kellie Harper has hit the ground running since she first got hired by Mizzou in the middle of March. Since getting introduced, she's filled out her staff, made additions from the transfer portal and retained some key players from the 2024-25 roster.

One of those players is Tiger star Grace Slaughter. The 6-foot-2 guard made the decision to stay in Columbia, after she said she was 'super excited,' that MU decided to hire Coach Harper. She will play a major role in the turnaround this program is hoping to make.

"After having those meetings with [Coach Harper] early on, I just really saw her vision and resonated with it for Mizzou women's basketball," Slaughter said. "She comes with a rich history of women's basketball, not only coaching but playing, and so to get the opportunity to see Mizzou put that type of effort towards women's basketball, I was really excited about that. On top of that...the community that Columbia has and the relationships you build over time. You know, Mizzou is so much more than just a place I get to play basketball at. It's a home state and it's an opportunity to play in the SEC, as well."

You can watch the full press conference with Slaughter and Harper in the video player below.

The rising junior averaged 15.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game through the 2024-25 campaign. Harper said she has been a fan of Slaughter's for quite some time and knows just how important she is to the Mizzou community and this team.

But, Slaughter isn't the only player returning to play another year in Columbia. As it stands now, guards Averi Kroenke and Abbey Schreacke will be back, along with forwards Hannah Linthacum and Mi'Riya Vincent.

The returning talent will be key in Coach Harper's vision for the upcoming season, as she will lean heavily on them to bring this team together in the offseason, with so many new pieces.

"I think it starts with our current players and I'm so proud of them," Harper said. "I'm so proud of the people that they are. They have been working so hard getting in the gym. They're so welcoming to our staff and they're they're hungry. They have to maintain that, they have to keep that. That hunger has to drive them and we are bringing in really good people that are going to match that...We're going to really work hard on building that cohesiveness, you do that a lot in the summer. A lot of your on-the-court chemistry comes from your off-court relationships with your with your teammates. I think we have some, some ideas on how we can we can do some things that are going to help foster that tough relationship."

Slaughter added that every minute the team spends together over the summer, results in that tight bond they hope to carry into the season. As she is set to enter her junior season, the Grain Valley native will look to become more of a vocal leader on the team and will make sure her teammates can hear her in different ways.

While Harper emphasized that now-a-days recruiting and roster management are very fluid, she is excited about the additions she has made out of the portal. Since getting hired, she brought on former Illinois State guard Shannon Dowell, former Florida Atlantic guard Sydney Mains, former Kentucky guard Saniah Tyler and former Cleveland State forward Jordana Reisma.

As it stands, there are currently nine players on the 2025-26 roster.

'We're still looking. We're still trying to bring in a few more pieces that make sense for us. But listen, we're not going to do it just for numbers, okay? Our practice guys are going to get a lot of reps...and our players are going to be playing a lot of minutes. That's what they want. They don't want to sit on the bench," Harper said.

While the focus of her recruiting now remains on the transfer portal, recruiting freshmen will be something she wants to move back towards in the future.

"We definitely want to move that way where we are bringing in high school players," Harper said. "I think that's going to be important for our culture and, for me, I think just the stability and the consistency of high school players coming in and doing what Grace [Slaughter] is doing. You know, I think that's going to be really important moving forward."

Coach Harper has seen the transfer portal go both ways, since arriving in Columbia, as the Tigers have lost quite a few players from the 2024-25 roster to the portal. The list of transfers includes star guard Ashton Judd, who decided to move on the University of Texas.

Slaughter and Judd spent quite a bit of time together in a Tiger uniform. She said for Judd, and all the players that ended up transferring, she's happy they found a right fit.

"It's hard to see your friends and close people go, but at the same time...just being happy for them and understanding that the transfer portal is a place that you can go if you think somewhere else will be a better fit for you and your development and just the goals that you have," Slaughter said.

The women's team is now looking forward to getting their entire roster together start building that offseason chemistry, as they have about six months until Harper's debut season will begin.

"What we're gonna try to do is extremely challenging in our league. They're up for it," Harper said.