Mizzou women’s basketball got the win it expected, 117-43 over Division II Lincoln University in Thursday’s exhibition opener. What it didn’t get was a clear read on how good this team is. A young group showed real promise, a senior reminded everyone what she can do and some questions on offense stayed open.

The Tigers shot 59.3% from the field, outrebounded the Blue Tigers 59-34 and forced 18 turnovers while committing only seven. Lincoln made 11 of 65 shots (16.9%) and never led.

Coach Kellie Harper cared less about the margin than how her team handled it. “A lot of times when a game gets a little bit one-sided, you could lose your focus, you could lose your discipline, and we did not,” she said. “That’s to me a sign of a very mature and competitive basketball team.”

With 1:41 left in the first quarter, Natalya Hodge pulled down a defensive rebound and immediately pushed the ball upcourt. She reached the left side of half court, looked up and saw Khloe Ford sprinting toward the rim. Hodge threaded a pass through a crowd of sky-blue Lincoln jerseys and put it right in Ford’s hands.

Ford stepped into her defender, finished through contact and sank the free throw for the three-point play.
Mizzou fans should get used to that pairing.

Ford, a 6-foot-4 freshman, started at center and made her presence known on her first possession, grabbing an offensive rebound and finishing an and-one layup. Two trips later, she crashed the offensive glass again for another bucket, and she blocked a shot early on the other end. She finished with 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting, the most shots on the team, plus eight rebounds, five of them offensive. She was the prime beneficiary of Mizzou’s habit of feeding the post.

“It was actually amazing,” Ford said of her first college game. “It was so fun to be with the team and finally get to play in all of our hard work during practice.” Her approach to mistakes is simple: “Even if I mess up, next play.”

Hodge carved her name into the stat sheet with a team-high six assists, three steals and no turnovers, along with nine points. She sped the game up without losing control of it, and every pass had a purpose.

“Nat is extremely aggressive. That is who she is. She is so competitive,” Harper said. “I think that’s her superpower, to be honest with you, and we need that. A really good team needs somebody that can bring that every single day, and she does for us in practice every single day.”

At Wednesday’s press conference, Harper said she doesn’t “need to see anything special” from Slaughter. The senior delivered anyway, opening her final season with a team-high 25 points on 9-for-12 shooting and 7-for-9 at the line in just 18 minutes. Ten of those points came in the first quarter, in six minutes, as she set the tone with a shoot-first mentality.

Asked about the freshmen, Slaughter sounded like the veteran she is.

“I’m just so proud of them and happy for them,” Slaughter said. “They’ve been super great in practice, just coming to any one of us with questions, and I really just think doing a good job of just learning. The SEC is such a tough league, and so being able to just focus on non-con one game at a time, I think they’re doing a great job of that.”

Of the group as a whole, she said: “Every day we show up, and I think we’re just willing to learn and willing to grow, whether that’s on the court, off the court.”

Mizzou blocked 14 shots, seven of them by freshman Ellie Muller, who also grabbed 10 rebounds, handed out four assists and went 3-for-3 from the field in 18 minutes.

“I thought our post players were really active. I thought our guards made it difficult to get the ball inside, and when they did, our post came and cleaned it up a little bit,” Harper said. “We may not get that many blocks every game, but I think just the moving their feet, being in the right position, understanding how to play basketball, and you’re really looking at two freshmen doing that with Khloe and Ellie.”

Lincoln scored nine of its 15 first-quarter points at the line. Mizzou cleaned up its fouling, and a 29-0 run followed.

“I thought we fouled too much there in that first quarter, and then I thought we did a good job of making adjustments,” Harper said. “That’s always a good thing for a coach to see early on, can your players make adjustments out of timeouts.”

The Tigers piled up points against almost no resistance from Lincoln’s Division II defense. Mizzou leaned on its post-centric identity, pounding the ball inside for 82 points in the paint to Lincoln’s six.

The perimeter told a different story. Mizzou made 4 of 13 threes (30.8%), including just 1 of 4 in the first half, when it already led 58-25. That kind of paint dominance won’t come as easily against stronger opponents, and Harper knows it.

“If I’m going to nitpick here a little bit, I thought we had some opportunities for maybe an extra pass to get a three that we just didn’t see,” Harper said. “That could be an area of growth for us. We are still going to shoot threes. There’s no doubt about it.”

The Tigers looked best when they ran, scoring 38 fast-break points and 25 off turnovers. The pace was by design. Mizzou often practices with a 12-second shot clock, Grace Slaughter said.

“It’s definitely been a big emphasis for us to just push the ball first, see what we can get out of that action, and then bring it out if we have to,” Slaughter said.

Mizzou will officially begin its season in just four days, taking on Howard back in Columbia on Nov. 2.