Mizzou and Kansas Women's Basketball Duel in Tightly Contested Border War

The toughest test to date for Kellie Harper and her Tigers. Missouri entered this year's edition of the Border War boasting an undefeated record, rattling off three straight wins to start the season — its bitter rival, the Kansas Jayhawks, did the same.

Missouri (3-1) hoped to highlight the early stages of the Kellie Harper era with a win over its biggest rival. However, despite a third-quarter surge, Kansas responded to stave off the Tigers for the 82-77 win.

One team was destined to suffer its first loss of the year, and with the two sides squaring off on a neutral site at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, no team had a clear advantage, and either side was hungry for the win.

Although no player on the Tigers' current roster was a member of the two programs last matchup, it was evident they were bought into the stakes of the competition. Missouri has been sitting on a brutal loss to the Jayhawks in the 2023 Women's NIT, where Kansas dismantled the Tigers with a crushing 28-point loss to end the season.

Before that, Missouri claimed victory in the last matchup for over a decade. Before departing for the SEC, the Tigers left the Jayhawks with a parting gift, upsetting their foe on their own home floor.

Foul trouble was a big concern for the Tigers with the team's only active center, Jordana Reisma, picking up two whistles early in the first quarter and sitting for the entirety of the second. With the interior defensive presence missing from the floor, the Jayhawks took advantage.

Kansas torched Missouri for 28 points in the second period. The Jayhawks did most of their damage inside the arc, hitting 11-of-14 shots from the field. They grew the lead to as much as 13 in the final moments of the half, but Abbey Schreacke drilled a buzzer-beating three-pointer to cut the halftime deficit to 10, with the Jayhawks leading 49-39.

Schreacke beats the buzzer 🚨 pic.twitter.com/BDa19j1EO5
— Mizzou Women’s Basketball (@MizzouWBB) November 16, 2025

Reisma returned to the floor for the opening frame out of the break. She and her teammates embarked on an 18-5 run, controlling the matchup on both sides of the ball through much of the quarter. The Tigers held their opponents to just a 35.% clip from the field. Kansas closed the period on a 10-3 run of its own, regaining the 66-62 lead entering the fourth.

18-5 run 🔥

3Q · 2:14 | Mizzou 59, kU 56 pic.twitter.com/8W4e8iidp7
— Mizzou Women’s Basketball (@MizzouWBB) November 16, 2025

Harper looked to her stars to put the game away in the final period, with Reisma, Grace Slaughter and Shannon Dowell, the Tigers' top-three nightly scorers, being the only Tigers to score in the fourth quarter.

The centralized offensive focus ultimately backfired, as the Tigers made fewer than half their shots in the quarter. The lack of team basketball was evident, as Missouri totaled only 10 assists and fell short to Kansas, which secured bragging rights.

Missouri had five more free-throw attempts than Kansas, but still made one fewer than the Jayhawks. A poor shooting night from the line, the Tigers made just over half of their attempts at an 11-of-20 rate.

Dowell paced the Tigers in scoring and rebounding with 18 points and 7 boards, followed by Slaughter who struggled from the field, scoring 16 on 6-for-16 shooting and with 6 rebounds. Reisma was the only other Tiger in double digits, going perfect from the field on six shots, scoring 14 points in 23 minutes.

The Jayhawks' S'Mya Nichols and Elle Evans maatched for a game-high 20 points, Nichols also notched 7 assists to lead all scorers.

Next up, Missouri will return home to host Southern Illinois at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday

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