Who Mizzou women's basketball has received commitments from and is targeting in recruiting

Chris Kwiecinski, Columbia Daily Tribune
·4 min read
Missouri head women's basketball coach Robin Pingeton smiles on March 22 at the Albrecht Family Practice Facility in Mizzou Arena.
Missouri head women's basketball coach Robin Pingeton smiles on March 22 at the Albrecht Family Practice Facility in Mizzou Arena.

While the Missouri men's basketball team has been hot on the recruiting trail, so has the women's basketball team.

The Tigers have added Kaitlyn Gilbert, a transfer from Notre Dame, to the 2022-23 team, but the classes of 2023 and 2024 offer a chance to add top in-state and regional talent.

Here are players coach Robin Pingeton has received commitments from or is targeting:

Players committed to Mizzou

Continuing with a recent trend, Pingeton continues to take top players in the Show-Me State.

This past cycle, Averi Kroenke and Ashton Judd, the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association's Class 6 and Class 5 players of the year, respectively, signed with the Tigers.

More in-state players are on the way, too.

Grain Valley's Grace Slaughter and Jefferson City's Hannah Linthacum have committed to play for Missouri.

Slaughter is recovering from an ACL tear during her junior season and is one of the best players in the state, having scored over 1,500 points going into her senior season at Grain Valley. She earned all-state honors from the MBCA last season, even after missing the back end of the campaign with her injury.

Slaughter has gained national notoriety on the hardwood beyond Missouri. She was selected for the 2021 Team USA U16 team and averaged 8.3 points per game in six games played.

She's firmly committed to MU, having pledged in 2020. Slaughter is also ranked 47th overall in ESPN's Top 100.

Linthacum was a Class 5 all-state player after averaging 19 points per game as a junior at Jefferson City. She committed to Missouri last October.

Linthacum has an opportunity to eclipse 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds for her high school career this upcoming season. Her older sisters, Sarah and Micah, are currently on the MU roster.

Drake and Missouri women's basketball players run across the court in a long exposure photograph during the Tigers' 83-78 loss to the Bulldogs in the first round of the WNIT on March 17 at Mizzou Arena.
Drake and Missouri women's basketball players run across the court in a long exposure photograph during the Tigers' 83-78 loss to the Bulldogs in the first round of the WNIT on March 17 at Mizzou Arena.

Players Mizzou is targeting

While Missouri has landed two Class of 2023 in-state players, there are three out-of-state players the Tigers are also in the mix for.

One of the biggest recruits the staff is currently targeting is Class of 2023 Flower Mound (Texas) High School forward Maddie Cox, according to a source. ESPN rates her as a four-star forward prospect, writing she's an agile player who can knock down shots, play in transition and drive to the basket at 6-foot-2.

Not only does basketball run in Cox's family, but she also has familial ties to Missouri.  Her sister Kaylee plays on the MU volleyball team. Another sister, Lauren, won a national championship with Baylor women's basketball in 2019.

Another sought-after prospect is Blue Springs South's Kendall Puryear, a 6-foot-4 forward in the Class of 2024.

Puryear helped Blue Springs South to a third-place finish in the Class 6 tournament. Puryear has offers from Cincinnati, Missouri, Missouri State, Kansas State and Purdue.

The highest-rated recruit is S'mya Nichols, a wing player at Shawnee Mission West High School in Kansas. According to ESPN's Class of 2023 Top 100, Nichols is rated as No. 21 overall.

Missouri women's basketball gathers near its bench after a timeout at Mizzou Arena.
Missouri women's basketball gathers near its bench after a timeout at Mizzou Arena.

This summer, Nichols won a gold medal with Team USA's U18 team at the 2022 FIBA WU18 Americas Championship.

According to ESPN's recruiting page for Nichols, she's billed as an athletic guard who can attack the rim through traffic and score in a myriad of ways. She boasts a mid-range game that can stretch beyond the arc, too.

Last November, Nichols announced her top-eight destinations, which included Missouri. She also listed Wisconsin, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, UCLA, Mississippi State, West Virginia and Kansas.

What it could mean for MU

Having Kroenke and Judd this upcoming season adds two pieces off the bench who can guard and score, respectively. Kroenke improved as a rebounder this past season, and Judd was a proficient scoring player at West Plains.

A recruiting class in 2023 featuring height with Linthacum and pure offense in Slaughter would take on a new look should Nichols and Cox join them as commits.

Nichols and Cox would be two crucial pieces of Pingeton's motion offense who could play on the wing and stretch defenses out to the perimeter. Linthacum would pair well with Jayla Kelly, who showed growth in the back end of the 2021-22 season.

That Class of 2023 would paint a clear future for Missouri women's basketball, which lost LaDazhia Williams, Aijha Blackwell, Izzy Higginbottom and Kiya Dorroh this offseason through the transfer portal.

Chris Kwiecinski is the sports editor for the Columbia Daily Tribune, overseeing University of Missouri and Boone County sports coverage. Follow him on Twitter @OchoK_ and contact him at CKwiecinsk@gannett.com or 573-815-1857.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: The latest on Mizzou women's basketball's recruiting targets