After two seasons playing for the Missouri Tigers, standout guard Grace Slaughter had a decision in front of her.
The coach she committed to, Robin Pingeton, was not re-signed after her contract expired and Slaughter, who grew up in Grain Valley, Missouri, just about an hour and a half from the home of Mizzou, could have hit the transfer portal, looking for greener pastures than a team that had won just five SEC games with Slaughter on the roster.
But with the hire of Kellie Harper, Slaughter decided to keep fighting at Mizzou.
“With the season ending, I just kind of wanted to see where Mizzou was going to go,” Slaughter said. “And when I heard that Coach Harper was announced, I was super excited. Kind of from there, I just wanted to get to know her, get to know the staff and after having those meetings with her early on, I just really saw her vision and resonated with it for Mizzou women’s basketball.”
Slaughter was the centerpiece of the Tigers as a sophomore after coming in her freshman season as the No. 1 recruit in the state. She lived up to the billing, averaging 15 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 45.9 percent from 3. She even led the Tigers to their first SEC win of the season with a buzzer-beating floater against Mississippi State.
That success led to Slaughter being the face of the team after just her second season.
“It’s something that you’ve got to embrace,” Slaughter said. “And I was super thankful just for my teammates the past couple years. I got to be a freshman with Hayley Frank and really just look up to her as a freshman and see how she kind of handled that role. I still talk with her, so being able just to have good upperclassmen to look up to … I think there’s still room to grow in that role, to be more vocal.”
But the success her first two seasons also could have led to opportunities for the rising junior to go somewhere with a more established roster and a more recent culture of success, like her teammate Ashton Judd who committed to Texas.
“The transfer portal provides a lot of positives, allows people to go where they need to,” Slaughter said. “So, for my teammates that have been in the locker room with us the past couple years, I’m just happy for them to be able to find a home.’
The transfer portal has also provided an opportunity for the Tigers to retool around Slaughter, who Harper said is the key to the team’s success moving forward.
“I’ve kind of been a fan of her from afar,” Harper said. “I’ve followed her career, I’ve enjoyed watching her play … I think she means a lot to this program, to this community, to this university and obviously to our team and to our team moving forward.”
As the roster continues to take shape and Harper brings in new players to try to breathe new life into a program that has been on a downward trend the past handful of years, Slaughter will remain as the core at the start of whatever Harper builds.
“I can just say that I’m super excited to be here and super excited to get to work with her,” Slaughter said.
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