‘She wants to lead’: Ines Bettencourt takes on vital role for Gonzaga women’s basketball
Perhaps it’s her grit. Maybe even her unwillingness to let mistakes derail her.
Or, maybe, it’s the fact it’s her final collegiate basketball season. Whatever it is, Ines Bettencourt, Gonzaga’s lone senior, has taken on a much-needed leadership role this season.
What Gonzaga needs most isn’t her production. It’s more about her indomitable spirit.
“She wants to lead,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said. “She wants to make the baskets, but she wants to really just win games. And she’s willing to do those things. She’s starting to understand her role. She’s taking the ones (shots) that she should.”
Bettencourt, who transferred to Gonzaga (6-5) the summer before her junior season after two years at storied UConn, is from Sao Miguel, Portugal.
The 5-foot-9 Bettencourt earned a full-time starting job this season after starting 16 times last year. She had a season-high 17 points against Wyoming and played a season-high 35 minutes against Rice. Arguably her best game came in the Zags’ overtime loss at Minnesota in the WBIT quarterfinals when she had 13 points and six assists in 21 minutes off the bench.
She averaged 6.1 points, 2.7 assists and 2.1 rebounds in 22 minutes per game a year ago. This season, she’s averaging 6.3 points, 3.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 27 minutes per game.
Bettencourt is shooting 40.7% from 3-point range (11 of 27).
Bettencourt saw limited minutes in 53 games in two seasons at UConn.
Fortier talked with Bettencourt before the season, asking her to take on a leadership role and be more of a supporting player. After a third of the season it’s obvious Bettencourt has transitioned nicely.
Bettencourt isn’t the lone leader. Sophomore guard Allie Turner and redshirt freshman Lauren Whittaker also contribute. It’s probably no coincidence that the trio live together.
“She’s just really playing with passion and doing whatever she can for our team to have success.
Bettencourt, who shares point guard duties with Turner, is not a flawless player. Her game has warts. She’d be the first to admit it. But she overcomes some deficiencies with stubborn determinedness.
“She makes mistakes, but she’s playing passionately and she’s playing so hard,” Fortier said. “She’s playing like a senior who wants it badly.”
When will it end?
The struggles continue for Washington State.
WSU coach Kamie Ethridge hasn’t seen the team she thought she’d have during nonconference. That largely explains why WSU is off to its second-worst start.
The Cougars hope there will be course correction when they launch into West Coast Conference play late next week.
At 1-11, WSU is off to its second-worst start in school history behind the 2002-03 team that began 0-11. That season, the Cougars lost their first 21 games.
In 2010-11, WSU began 2-13. In 2007-08, they started 3-20.
It’s unlikely WSU will dig the hole any deeper. But the struggles have been real.
“This entire season has just made us re-evaluate without the personnel that we always thought we would have,” Ethridge said. “We have to have a physical presence in the post. We have to find different people … to play a little bit more than we have in the past. We clearly have to improve our defensive end and rebounding – not giving away possessions there.”
Junior 6-6 post Alex Covill was expected to be a big contributor inside offensively and defensively. But in the Cougars’ second game she suffered a foot injury. She started 20 of 27 games last year, but missed the final eight of the regular season with a foot injury before returning for the postseason.
In a season-ending loss to North Dakota State, Covill led WSU with 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting and four rebounds.
Ethridge said struggles aside, she’s proud her team hasn’t been distracted by the win-loss record.
Covill could be back to start WCC play.
Going into this week, there were seven winless teams in NCAA Division I and 20 with one victory including WSU.
Covill’s absence and injuries to others has meant increased playing time for true freshman Malia Rudd, a 6-2 forward from Pasco. She has started eight games, averaging 27.4 minutes. She ranks third in scoring at 10.2 points.
“I don’t think we wanted Malia to play this many minutes,” Ethridge said.
This week
Gonzaga goes on the road for its final two nonconference games.
The Zags visit 7-4 Missouri State on Friday (tip at 4:30) and finish at 2-7 UC Riverside on Sunday (tip at 2 p.m.).
• WSU finishes a grueling nonconferene schedule at Pennsylvania (7-3) on Friday.
• Eastern Washington (6-4) finishes nonleague play at UC Santa Barbara (9-1) on Thursday, at Cal State Bakersfield (3-7) on Saturday and at home against Bushnell (2-8) on Monday.
• Idaho (8-4) has one nonconference game left Saturday at home against Western Oregon (7-3).
Around the WCC
WCC teams conclude nonconference action this week.
Pepperdine, in its second year with former Lake City and Montana standout Katie (Baker) Faulkner at the helm, is off to a 7-3 start. Close behind is Santa Clara at 9-3 under first-year coach Loree Payne. She was a head coach previously at Northern Arizona and Puget Sound.
The rest of the conference looks like this: Saint Mary’s (8-4), San Francisco (6-4), Oregon State (6-5), Portland (5-5), Loyola Marymount (5-4), Pacific (4-5), San Diego (5-7) and newcomer Seattle (4-6). LMU (4-6) is playing just 11 nonconference games after one game was canceled.
Portland and Pacific have the toughest games left. Portland goes to Oregon and Pacific takes on 22nd-ranked Washington.