No. 22 Tennessee (15-6, 7-2 SEC) will host Missouri (16-10, 4-7 SEC) Thursday in SEC basketball play. Tipoff between the Lady Vols and Tigers is slated for 6:30 p.m. EST at Food City Center (SEC Network+).
Thursday will mark a return to Food City Center for former Tennessee head coach and student-athlete Kellie Harper.
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This season, she has guided the Tigers to a pair of SEC victories over Arkansas. Missouri has also defeated Mississippi State and Texas A&M after losing four of its first five conference games. The Tigers lost to Georgia, 85-66, at home Sunday.
Harper served as the Lady Vols’ head coach from 2019-24, compiling a 108–52 (53-24 SEC) record. She guided Tennessee to four NCAA Tournament appearances in five seasons.
Harper played for the Lady Vols from 1995-99, winning three national championships (1996-98) under Pat Summitt.
She was also a head coach at Western Carolina (2004-09), North Carolina State (2009-13) and Missouri State (2013-19). Harper served as an assistant coach at Auburn (2000-01) and Chattanooga (2001-04). She won two Southern Conference Tournament championships with the Catamounts (2005, 2009) and two MVC Tournament titles with the Bears (2016, 2019).
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Following her playing career with the Lady Vols, Harper played professionally for the Cleveland Rockers of the WNBA during the 1999 season. She played high school basketball at White County High School in Sparta, Tennessee.
More: Kellie Harper discusses returning to SEC at Missouri
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This article originally appeared on Vols Wire: Kellie Harper will return to Tennessee as Missouri’s head coach
