After a disappointing loss on the road at Tennessee, Kellie Harper and Mizzou women’s basketball takes on a pair of fellow Tigers as they look to get back in the win column. That starts with a home showdown against Auburn on Thursday, before heading to Baton Rouge to play LSU on Sunday. Here’s what there is to know about lies ahead for the Tigers and the key to finding success down the stretch.
War Eagle
Mizzou women’s basketball has four regular season games left on the schedule. Auburn is the only remaining
team that not currently ranked by the Associated Press. Mizzou holds the all-time series lead at 10-7, but Auburn has won the last two showdowns. Last year Mizzou lost on The Plains 75-60, but will have a chance to break that streak in Columbia on Thursday.
The Tigers are in a similar place to Mizzou, with new head coach Larry Vickers from Norfolk State. Auburn is currently 2-10 in year one under Vickers with wins coming against Florida and Alabama. However, it has been difficult for the Plains Tigers as of late, with the team is riding a 7-game losing streak.
Auburn’s last loss came on the road against Texas A&M 81-63. The biggest struggle came in shooting the ball, finishing 33.3% from the field and 26.1% from the three-point line. However, the team found success in turning the Aggies over 18 times, turning it into 22 points the other way.
The Tigers’ strongest offensive weapon against the Aggies was junior guard Kaitlyn Duhon, scoring a career-high 23 points on 7-13 shooting while adding six rebounds and four steals. Duhon is the team’s second-leading scorer at 9.6 points while adding 4.3 rebounds and 3.2 steals. While Auburn only has one player (Harissoum Coulibaly) averaging double-digits, but has a very balanced scoring attack with four players averaging 8-plus points. This matchup gives Mizzou a key opportunity they can’t afford to waste.
Kim-possible
Mizzou returns to Baton Rouge to take on Kim Mulkey’s No.7 ranked LSU Tigers. Unsurprisingly this series has been owned by LSU, leading the all-time series 15-4 including a six-game winning streak dating back to 2020. While Mizzou enters as massive underdogs, this serves as a potential trap game for LSU as it comes in between ranked matchups against Ole Miss and Tennessee.
LSU is coming off a loss to No. 3 South Carolina 79-72 in one of the best games of the year this season. The Tigers failed to match the Gamecocks when it came to the three-point line, finishing 2-12 compared to their opponents’ 8-17 beyond-the-arc. However, LSU has always held the advantage when it comes offensive rebounds, winning the board battle against South Carolina 18-11. Overall, the Tigers average an 18.5 advantage when it comes to rebounding each game. Mizzou is undersized and pending the return of forward Jordana Reisma, so limiting second chance opportunities for LSU will be a key point of emphasis.
Offensively LSU is led by superstar Flau’jae Johnson, who leads the team averaging 14.1 points on 47/44/71 shooting splits. In addition, she contributes 4.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. Currently Johnson is projected as the No. 5 overall pick in ESPN’s latest WNBA mock draft following the end of the season. While Johnson’s production may not jump off the page, her undeniable talent makes her a tough guard for this Mizzou lineup.
Player to Watch: Chloe Sotell
One key indicator of success this season for Mizzou has been its depth scoring. In the blowout loss to Tennessee, Grace Slaughter and Shannon Dowell were the only Tigers who scored double-digit points. The duo has carried the offensive load all season, combining for an average 34.9 points per game. With Reisma now out of the lineup with injury for the foreseeable future, Chloe Sotell will be looked to as the tertiary scorer for the Tigers moving forward.
In her sophomore season, Sotell is averaging 8.4 points per game with shooting splits of 41/39/83. In addition to her points she has averaged 5.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists to contribute with more than just made threes. Sotell was the third highest scorer against Tennessee with nine points on three-made triples. Over the last five games she has been incredibly consistent, averaging 8.6 points while scoring somewhere between 7-11 in each game.
While this consistency is impressive, if Mizzou hopes to hang around with the elite teams on the schedule ahead, Sotell will likely need to average double digits for the remainder of the season. This is certainly possible as she scored 10-plus in four-straight games during a stretch in December into early January.
Sotell and the rest of the Mizzou roster starts the week with a showdown against Auburn at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday in Mizzou Arena. The game will be available to watch on SEC Network+ through the ESPN app.
