Mizzou women's basketball schedule preview: Games 1-3
I’m beginning to look at the first schedule in the tenure of Mizzou women’s basketball coach Kellie Harper.
Here is a look at Central Arkansas, Tulane and Arkansas State.
Game 1: Hosting Central Arkansas on Nov. 3.
The Harper era starts with a generally tough lower-level opponent.
The Bears went 23-10 overall and 15-3 in Atlantic Sun play last season. Coach Tony Kemper is back, but will have a different-looking lineup. Last year was the year for Central Arkansas to take a shot with a senior-loaded roster that went to the ASUN Tournament championship, but lost to Florida Gulf Coast.
The Bears went to the WNIT and lost to Abilene Christian in the first round.
The highest-scoring returner is junior guard Cheyanne Kemp who played 31 games off the bench last season and averaged 5.3 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
Graduate forward Bree Stephens is the only starter returning after averaging 5.0 points and a team-high 6.0 rebounds per game.
Sophomore guard Jenna Cook is back after playing 33 games off the bench last season and averaging 3.3 points and 0.9 rebounds per game. And sophomore forward Kamryn Griffin is back after appearing in one game.
Central Arkansas brought in a handful of transfers, but none from a power conference team.
While the Bears were successful last season, it seems like this should be a rebuilding year that allows Harper her first win in Columbia to be relatively easy.
Game 2: At Tulane, Nov. 6.
Why are the Tigers going on the road to face Tulane for Game 2 of the season? Good question. It’s the completion of a home-and-home that started last season.
Why did the Tigers schedule a home-and-home with Tulane to begin with? I don’t know.
Tulane went 17-13 overall and 9-8 American Athletic Conference play last season. The Tigers won last year’s matchup 60-52 in Columbia early in the season.
The Green Wave averaged 68.3 points per game and allowed 65.1.
Tulane shot 41.8 percent from the field, 32.8 percent from 3 and just 65.1 percent from the free-throw line.
Head coach Ashely Langford goes into her second season with senior starting forward Amira Mabry (6-foot-0) back after averaging 10.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
Starting sophomore guard Kendall Sneed (5-8) is back after averaging 10.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. As a freshman, she led the team with 124 total assists, an average of 4.13 per game, but she also had 132 turnovers. Her 53 steals led the team as well.
The first option off the bench last year, sophomore Sadie Shores (5-10), is back after averaged 4.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Senior forward Dyllan Hanna (6-2) is back as well after averaging 21.5 minutes per game.
Otherwise, the Green Wave return two players and have 10 new players. I expect the Tigers to be a little better right off the bat with Harper’s first roster and Tulane to be a little bit worse.
Oddly enough, I see this as the first sign of a new era after the Tigers dropped their matchup at Vermont to open last season. If Harper goes into Tulane and shows that the Tigers aren’t going to play down to inferior competition, that’s the first real sign of progress.
I’m guessing we see that here.
Game 3: Hosting Arkansas State, Nov. 11.
Another solid opponent from the mid-major level. Arkansas State went 21-11 overall last season and 15-3 in the Sun Belt.
The Red Wolves beat Arizona State early in the season and ran through conference play on the way to winning the Sun Belt Tournament to earn a bid in the NCAA Tournament. But a matchup with UConn ended the season with a 103-34 loss. The Red Wolves had been picked to finish 13th in the Sun Belt and went on to the first winning season the program had since 2015-16.
Coach Destinee Rogers is back for a fourth season at the helm of the program after Arkansas State averaged 72.1 points and allowed 67.6 last year. The Red Wolves shot 37.8 percent from the field, 31.9 percent from 3 and 68.8 percent from the free-throw line.
After turning over a majority of the roster going into last year, five members of the team are back for 2025-26.
Leading scorer Zyion Shannon returns after averaging 10.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. Her 63 steals were a team high. Shannon is a 5-8 senior guard.
Crislyn Rose (5-8 junior guard) is back after scoring 10.0 points and bringing down 2.6 rebounds per game. She led the team with 133 assists, almost double any other member of the team.
Reshirt senior guard Wynter Rogers (6-0) is back after starting 28 games and averaging 6.0 points and a team-high 6.1 rebounds per game. Her 21 blocks were second on the team.
Graduate guard Mimi McCollister (5-6) is back after appearing in all 32 games and starting four. She averaged 6.0 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, while dishing out 72 assists for second on the team.
Redshirt senior Bella Weary (5-6) is back after appearing in 32 games and starting five. She averaged 5.5 points and 2.5 rebounds per game, while dishing out 43 assists and poking away 39 steals.
The Red Wolves brought in seven new players, all from the transfer portal.
- Senior guard D’Arrah Allen comes from Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
- Sophomore center Yves Cox joins from Cal State Northridge.
- Senior guard Marlie Dickerson comes from Niagra.
- Junior forward Allyson Ferguson joins from Northwest Florida State College.
- Graduate guard Payton Fields played at St. Bonaventure last year.
- Junior guard Aniyah Ruddock comes from Chipola College.
- Senior guard Mia Targer joins from Utah State.
Even in its best season in a decade, Arkansas State didn’t keep up with power-conference teams in non-conference play outside of Arizona State, which went just 10-22 last year.
This is another good lower-level test for Harper’s first unit.
A 3-0 start would go a long way to showing this isn’t Robin Pingeton’s team anymore.
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