Predicting Top 3 Scorers for Mizzou Women's Basketball: The Extra Point

Watch the video below as Missouri basketball reporter Killian Wright gives his thoughts and predictions on which Tigers could lead Missouri women's basketball in scoring next season.

Welcome to Missouri Tigers On SI's "Extra Point," a video series featuring the site's Missouri beat writers. Multiple times a week, the writers provide analysis on a topic concerning the Tigers or the landscape of college sports.

Missouri Tigers women's basketball is on the brink of starting a new era. Following a 15-season stint of Robin Pingeton at the helm, the program decided to move in a new direction, opting to hire Kellie Harper as the next head coach.

Along with bringing in Harper, the Tigers constructed an overhaul of the roster, as many players either graduated or took their talents elsewhere in the transfer portal. In all, Missouri lost eight players, and replaced them all in various ways.

Read: Mizzou Women's Basketball Offseason Tracker: Who's in, Who's Out?

Among the group of departing players were the Tigers' second and third leading scorers, Laniah Randle and Ashton Judd. As Missouri looks to bounce back and compete in the Southeastern Conference, which newcomers or returners will step up as top three scorers on the team?

1. Grace Slaughter

Slaughter will almost certainly lead the team in scoring next season, as she did the same last season, averaging 15 points per game. She consistently has the ball in her hands the most, takes the most shots and has the most versatile scoring package.

Despite the change of head coaches, Kellie Harper still fully expects Slaughter to be the team's leader, and remain the face of the program.

"I've followed her career, I've enjoyed watching her play." Harper said of Slaughter during a press conference April 28. "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."

Read: Grace Slaughter 'Embracing' New Role as Face of Mizzou Women's Basketball

2. Shannon Dowell

In wake of the aforementioned departures from Judd and Randle, a void of 23.2 combined points per game has opened up, and a need for on-ball scoring with it. Of all eight newcomer Tigers, Dowell is the only one to have led her previous team in scoring, averaging a team-high 17.6 points for Illinois State last season.

Bonus points; Dowell dropped 23 points or more in six of her last seven games, including a 37 point explosion against Troy in the NIT Semifinal.

She's an elite driver who possess the physicality to compete with the best in the SEC, and can get to her spots with ease. She shot 75.1 percent from the free throw line on 5.5 attempts per game –– the latter would've ranked third in the SEC and first at Missouri last season.

Dowell brings a versatile scoring punch and the willingness to take tough shots that not many other Tigers have proven capable of yet, and is in line for a major role next season.

3. Abbey Schreacke or Jordana Reisma

There's two different way the Tigers third-leading scorer could shake out next season. The first being that returning junior Abbey Schreacke sees a spike in volume following Ashton Judd's departure, as the two play similar roles as perimeter sharpshooters with a bit of a mid-range game. The second being that Jordana Reisma fills the void left by Laniah Randle's interior post scoring, and becomes the leading paint presence for the team.

There's a good chance that both of these two share the court together in the starting lineup, making it an even more difficult task to predict which comes first in the pecking order.

Schreacke is a career 37.6 percent 3-point shooter, but resided primarily as a specialist in her first two seasons with the Tigers. She'd need a bit more growth as a creator to take the leap as a tertiary scorer, but she's shown flashes of it being possible.

Reisma was the second-leading scorer for Cleveland State last season, averaging 14.5 points per game with a much more versatile package of post-moves, fast-break finishes and put-backs. It'd be a tall task to ask Reisma to replicate those numbers next season, but she should still be productive nonetheless.

In Harper's latest stint with Tennesse, there were seasons which sharpshooters like Jewel Spear or Sara Puckett stepped up as top-three scorers, but also seasons which the post-oriented Tamari Key took that role.

It's hard to definitively say whether Schreacke or Reisma will step up, but the avenue for Reisma to play a larger role seems clearer, as there's less proven post players on the team compared to shooting wings like Schreacke.

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