GRAIN VALLEY, Mo. — Grace Slaughter committed to the Mizzou women’s basketball program more than five years ago. She had just finished her freshman year at Grain Valley High School, but she’d been a Tigers fan her entire life.
“I remember me and my sister went to a Mizzou basketball camp, and we have pictures with the Cunningham sisters (Sophie and Lindsey) when we're itty bitty,” Slaughter said.
That helps explain why, even amid the NCAA’s nomadic transfer-portal era, Slaughter never seriously entertained leaving despite an offseason coaching change.
Her goal is to help engineer a turnaround at Mizzou.
“We want to get better; we want to get more wins,” Slaughter said. “That's always the goal — and the end goal every season is to make the tournament.”
Robin Pingeton, the coach who recruited her to Columbia, announced her resignation in February after 15 seasons at Mizzou’s helm.
Kellie Harper, whose résumé includes head coaching stops at Tennessee and Missouri State, replaced Pingeton, who now coaches at Wisconsin, in March.
“She's been great,” Slaughter said. “When I heard she was the new coach, I was super excited, because I'd just known about her basketball past a little bit. Then, I got to work with her in June and July for summer workouts and just getting on the court with her.”
The 2025-26 Tigers will have seven new players in addition to the new coaching staff and, to overcome a lack of size, aim to play at breakneck speed.
“Coach Harper made it (the transition) really smooth,” Slaughter said. “It was super comfortable for me to just go talk to her in the office when she needed to talk about things or just for me to go ask her questions. She definitely made the decision to stay very easy.”
Many changes are coming for Mizzou, but Slaughter will remain the constant that the program is built around.
She averaged 11.5 points and 3.4 rebounds en route to earning SEC All-Freshman Team honors in 2024.
As a sophomore, Slaughter led the Tigers in scoring at 15.0 points per game with 3.6 rebounds and improved her three-point shooting from 37.1% to 45.9%, which would have ranked top five in the nation if she had made enough three-pointers to qualify.
“Getting a new coach, a new system as well, a new week, new practices — for some of the returners, that's been good for us to just have a fresh feeling,” Slaughter said.
Mizzou has gone 25-37, including a 5-27 record in conference play, during the last two seasons.
Harper went 108-52, including five 20-win seasons, with a 53-24 SEC record in five seasons at Tennessee. The Volunteers were poised to make the NCAA tournament in Harper’s first season before COVID-19 cancelled the postseason.
Tennessee reached the Sweet Sixteen twice and the second round twice in Harper’s last four seasons.
She transitioned to broadcast work as a women’s basketball analyst on the SEC Network last season, which is when Slaughter started to develop a relationship with her.
“I did not have any relationship with her (during recruiting), but she definitely stood out to me ... and I'd actually talked to her after a few of our SEC games (last year),” Slaughter said.
After the upcoming season, Slaughter would be eligible for the WNBA Draft, but she’s solely focused on helping elevate the Tigers.
“I have two years left of college and that's kind of where I'm at right now,” she said. “I'm just focusing on getting better, one season and one goal at a time. ... To see it growing is just super exciting, and while I haven't thought about it too much, those are some goals for the future.”
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KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
