The secondary scorer that Mizzou desperately needed before the season came through once again. A game-winning layup with 1.7 seconds to go put the exclamation point on the impact Shannon Dowell brought to the Tigers' offense in her 25-point performance.
Fresh off the back of a 33-point performance by Grace Slaughter against Northwestern, the headline transfer for the Tigers in the portal, Shannon Dowell, took her turn to lead the Tigers to another hard-fought, 68-67 victory at Mizzou Arena Thursday night.
The difference between this Tigers team and one's of the recent past? Kellie Harper's team has thrived in tight games in the fourth quarter. Against Northwestern, a 15-7 run pushed Missouri to victory against the rival journalism school. Against the Golden Bears, down five heading into the fourth quarter, Mizzou willed its way to victory down the stretch.
Harper credited the late-game composure to her team’s growing toughness—something she’s seen develop steadily over the past several weeks. After a shaky third quarter that saw the Tigers down 55-50 at the end, she gathered her players in the huddle and reminded them the game would be decided possession by possession. The message landed.
“[Before the fourth quarter] I looked at the team—this is the moment as a coach—you look everybody in the eye, every single one of them: We’re going to win this game. We can win this game, and you’ve got to believe we can win this game," Harper said. We’re going to win this game, and you’ve got to believe it,” Harper said. “It wasn’t going to happen in one play. It was going to be a grind, and they followed through.”
The Tigers' standout player from last season, Grace Slaughter, and Dowell performed as effectively as the team's dynamic scoring duo, combining for 46 points on the scoresheet. Each player shot 50% from the field, while shooting over 15 shot attempts, highlighting the level of offensive efficiency that has remained relatively consistent from the two throughout the season.
Coming into Thursday, Slaughter led the team in points per game at 19.6. Dowell? Right behind her at 17.4 PPG. Coming into the season, there was a hole of a consistently dynamic scorer that needed to be filled behind Slaughter; it seems the Tigers have found the antidote to that problem.
“We’ve got two players you can run a lot of offense through because they’re so aggressive,” Mizzou coach Kellie Harper said. “And that opens the floor for everybody else.”
Thursday also marked the fifth time Dowell has taken at least seven free throws this season, highlighting the speed and aggression that Harper says fuels Missouri’s offense. Even on an off shooting night for Abbey Schreacke, Harper praised her impact—pointing to a +9 plus-minus in a one-point win.
“She does positive things for us even when she’s not hitting shots,” Harper said. “And her teammates feel comfortable with her out there.”
The win pushes Missouri to 8-2 heading into SEC play and gives the Tigers a confidence-building result against a Cal team that reached the NCAA Tournament as an eight-seed last season.