Carl Adamec: Freshman Bettencourt comes through with game on line

  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Dec. 9—STORRS — If not for the season-ending knee injury to Paige Bueckers, Inês Bettencourt would have spent Thursday night getting herself ready for Northwest Florida State's home game against Monroe College this afternoon.

Instead, the 5-foot-9 freshman guard from São Miguel, Azores, was on the Gampel Pavilion court with the UConn women's basketball team trying to help the Huskies keep streaks alive that started well before the 18-year-old was born. It was about the last place that anyone expected her to be, including her.

But whatever happens to her from here, Bettencourt can take with her that she helped UConn win a game that it might have lost without her.

Bettencourt went 3-for-4 from the foul line in the final 21.7 seconds, including two free throws with 2.9 seconds left that clinched the sixth-ranked Huskies' 69-64 victory over Princeton.

"I had to believe in myself," Bettencourt said. "We needed it so I just focused on the rim and nothing else and made it."

The free throws were her first of the season. With guards Nika Mühl and Lou Lopez Sénéchal injured in the second half, she played the final 5:22 — 9:17 total — as UConn (7-1) tried desperately to hold off a Tigers rally from a 15-point deficit. It wasn't all a dream: Bettencourt committed three turnovers that helped Princeton (5-3) pull within two and had a layup nullified due to a shot-clock violation.

The Tigers did a get to shot to tie, but the Huskies got a stop and Bettencourt put it away. Their almost 30-year streak of not losing back-to-back games and their 27-year streak of not losing to a first-time opponent continue for at least a little while longer.

"We tried to stay strong," Lopez Sénéchal said. "It's in those moments when we knew Nika was out that some people had to step up, even if they don't play as much. That's what Inês did. Everyone did, and we found a way to win. We're very proud of that.

"Inês did well. For a freshman it's new for her but we can see a lot of improvement even in practice in her confidence. It's in those moments she can have an impact."

UConn announced Bueckers' injury the first week of August and that Bettencourt would join the team at the end of August.

So much for her original plan to attend Northwest Florida State College. She arrived just in time for the start of fall classes.

"Her flight over here took longer than the recruiting process, so that tells you how long we recruited her," coach Geno Auriemma said. "The one thing I admire about the kids over there, and Inês fits it to a tee, 'Do you want to come play here. Yes. Have you ever been to America? No. Do you know where we are? No. Do you know anything about it? No. Are you sure you want to come? Yeah.'

"I love their sense of adventure, looking for challenges and relishing opportunities. So when you have somebody like that, you want them to do well and to succeed. You want them to have a little bit of a reminder, 'This is why I made the decision to come here. I wanted to see if I could experience something like this.' My guess is because she made that bucket and made those free throws, she is going to be an even more confident player next time."

Bettencourt, who had totaled 21 minutes in UConn's seven games coming in, came on for the first time with 1:57 left in the third quarter after Caroline Ducharme picked up her fourth foul. Twenty-nine seconds later she knocked down Princeton's Maggie Connolly.

Auriemma shook his head.

"Coach put me in the game so I'm going to show him he can trust me," Auriemma said. "I'm just going to punch their point guard as soon as she touches the ball. She has the wrong role model on our team. She should listen to me instead of Nika. Then because you smacked a kid for no reason you put them on the free-throw line. So later in the game she won't go near a really good 3-point shooter because she's afraid to foul her. So she's trying to find her way out there.

"But at the very end of the game before her free throws when we inbounded the ball she came really, really hard to the ball like I wanted. That speaks volumes about her. She is not smart yet, but she's not afraid. I can probably fix the one, but I can't make you not afraid. She's getting baptism by fire. I don't think they have this kind of stuff in the Azores. The kid has never been in a situation like this in her life."

It's likely she's never seen half of her team be sidelined by injuries at once. But Auriemma and his staff have preached to every player for decades — even the ones at the end of the bench — to be ready if and when your name is called.

Bettencourt was.

"With all the injuries that we've got, and with Nika getting hurt, I felt like I had to step up and help the team," Bettencourt said.

Mühl and Lopez Sénéchal will be evaluated today so the number of available Huskies for their game at No .20 Maryland Sunday isn't known. Maybe Bettencourt will be needed again, maybe not.

No one will be able to take away from her what she did Thursday night in the biggest spot of her basketball career.

"I am absolutely thrilled for Inês and I hope she builds on it," Auriemma said. "She is a tremendous kid. Everybody on the team loves her."

Carl Adamec is a Journal Inquirer staff writer. He has covered the UConn women's basketball team for 34 years.

For coverage of all sports in the JI's 18-town coverage area, plus updates on the UConn women's basketball team and head coach Geno Auriemma, follow Carl Adamec on Twitter: @CarlAdamec, Facebook: Carl Adamec, and Instagram: @CarlAdamec.