Columbia News

Mizzou women's basketball will start its 52nd season on Monday at 6:30 p.m., facing Central Arkansas at Mizzou Arena. The game will be broadcast on SECN+.

This season marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Tigers under head coach Kellie Harper, who was appointed in March as the fifth head coach in program history. Harper brings two decades of Division I coaching experience, with a career record of 393-260 and nine NCAA Tournament appearances. She has led her teams to 15 top-three league finishes and four conference tournament titles. Including her time as a player at Tennessee, Harper has accumulated 11 seasons of SEC experience. In the 2022-23 season, she guided the Lady Volunteers to their second consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 appearance.

She is one of two coaches in women's college basketball history to guide four different programs to the NCAA Tournament (Jim Foster) and one of only three coaches all-time to produce four straight first-round picks in the WNBA Draft. She joined UConn's Geno Auriemma (2008-11, 2013-16) and Notre Dame's Muffet McGraw (2012-15) in that company.

The team features Grace Slaughter, named SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year for 2024-25. Last season, Slaughter averaged 15 points per game and scored double figures in 26 games. She holds second place in program history for career free-throw percentage at 84.6%. Slaughter was also recently selected for the Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year Watchlist.

Junior guard Abbey Schreacke returns after leading Mizzou in three-pointers last year and ranking 14th in SEC three-point attempts during the previous season.

The Tigers' roster includes eight new additions from transfers: Shannon Dowell (Illinois State), Saniah Tyler (Kentucky), Lisa Thompson (Rutgers), Jordana Reisma (Cleveland State), Jayla Smith (Purdue), Chloe Sotell (Pepperdine), Sydney Mains (Florida Atlantic), along with freshman Reka Toman.

Jordana Reisma led all returning NCAA players nationwide in field-goal percentage last year with a mark of 67.7% while playing at Cleveland State.

Shannon Dowell joins after being named All-Missouri Valley Conference Second-Team and averaging team highs of 17.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists last season at Illinois State. Dowell starts this year just shy of reaching her career milestone with only 31 points needed to hit the thousand-point mark.

Mizzou enters Monday’s matchup holding an all-time record of 866 wins and 664 losses, including a strong performance in openers—41 wins out of their last 51 season openers and a home opener record standing at 43-8.

This contest will be the first meeting between Missouri and Central Arkansas women’s basketball programs.

Central Arkansas finished its previous campaign with a record of 23-10 overall and went 15-3 within Atlantic Sun Conference play under third-year head coach Tony Kemper, who led them into the second round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament. Graduate student Bree Stephens leads Central Arkansas after averaging five points per game alongside a team-best average of over six rebounds last year.

Season tickets for Missouri women’s basketball are available now through Ticketmaster or by contacting Mizzou Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-CAT-PAWS; current ticket holders can renew via their online accounts.