Bettencourt and Portugal U20 Team

[awhom111]

Game preview: Portugal vs Italy ( a tough game for the Portuguese young women )!
This is for FIFTH PLACE!! PPG Portugal 66.3 Italy 78.2!!! Portugal is a trace
better on three point shooting , a trace ahead on assists, a little better on not
commiting fouls. ITALY a slim lead in rebounds 26 to 25 and a good lead
on Free throws 76.6 to 67.3. Portugal with a decided advantage on STEALS
12.8 to 9.7 steals per game. It's the ppg that is concerning and ITALY has
the #4 and #5 players in the whole tournament in EFFICIENCY Matilde Villa
#6 who is #4 and Sara Ronchi who is # 5 in the tournment in effiency. Villa
scores 24.5 ppg and Rochi 16. 7 ppg. They are better two point shooting
than three point shooting. PORTUGAL needs one of their GOOD GAMES to
win thing one. HIT THOSE FREE THROWS!, GET THOSE STEALS! NO SLOPPINESS!
GO TEAM everyone needs to contribute. GO INES! GO HUSKY! GO Portugal
The Game is 8:30 AM on SUNDAY morning. VOTE FOR INES in the MVP Polling.
The VOTE should help her with any possible second team ALL TOURNAMENT
position. She is not in the running for the overall MVP.. but VOTE anyway for
the SECOND TEAM ALL TOURNAMENT possibility. IF PORTUGAL wins ( or
even it they lose, but INES has a good game ) this is a possiblity, VOTE!!

As mentioned, Italy's star is their point guard Matilde Villa, a player who definitely has WNBA attention for the next draft as she is one of the more effective young slashing guards in Europe in some time. She was one of a raft of guards that Morgan Valley followed in the leadup to Ines eventually signing. Her twin sister Eleonora comes off the bench as she will head to Washington State after this tournament. Besides Ronchi having an excellent tournament at small forward, Vittoria Blasigh is also a player who could find her way into 2024 WNBA draft consideration with another good club season.

 

[Zarathustra]

first quarter Italy 18 Portugal 14
Ines has played 4 minutes 40 seconds NO SCORE
but a nice deflection!

 

[Zarathustra]

Italy with a 10 - 0 run between end of 1st and early second
period. Portugal unable to connect on ANY entry passes!
Later in the second period: Portugal scoreless for over
5 minutes of the second period 31 - 14 . Now 31 - 16.
Nothing doing on entry passes. # 16 for Italy Mcengue
is a rim protector. She is 6'3". #20 Cancelli 6'2" also
doing some damage in the paint. OUCH!

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Italy with a 10 - 0 run between end of 1st and early second
period. Portugal unable to connect on ANY entry passes!
Later in the second period: Portugal scoreless for over
5 minutes of the second period 31 - 14 . Now 31 - 16.
Nothing doing on entry passes. # 16 for Italy Mcengue
is a rim protector. She is 6'3". #20 Cancelli 6'2" also
doing some damage in the paint. OUCH!

I hate touch fouls being called, but this is almost the exact opposite!

 

[Zarathustra]

At the HALF Italy 41 Portugal 20 Outscored 22 - 6 in
the second period... Looks like a long day for Portugal.
No answers. Ines has played 6 minutes 57 seconds No Scores

 

[LwrcasefaN]

At the HALF Italy 41 Portugal 20 Outscored 22 - 6 in
the second period... Looks like a long day for Portugal.
No answers. Ines has played 6 minutes 57 seconds No Scores

Not sure what defense they are playing, but it's not working. Compared to Italy they look slow.

 

[Zarathustra]

Not sure what defense they are playing, but it's not working. Compared to Italy they look slow.

Portugal with no scoring in the last 2:17 seconds of second quarter. In that time
Italy with 8 straight points and 5 points in the last 30 seconds!! Italy
closes out the quarter with a 3 pointer, two point lay up, missed foul shot
but another lay up , a Portugeuse foul ( again ), and the foul shot made.
Looks like 6th place for the Portugal squad, 5th for Italy. I don't see
a 22 point comeback for the win!! So, does Ines meet up with
the team in Storrs or in Croatia?? Go UCONN LADIES. Go Huskies!

 

[TCC Kid]

I absolutely LOVE the experience she is getting. From the box score it looks like she is a starter now? Or at least she started the last game? Great to see her getting all that experience on the floor - something she didn't see a lot of at UCONN.

I am really rooting for her for this coming season. She and Amari seem like such great kids, and great teammates, With a roster of 14 and so much talent, carving out a spot for PT will be a challenge. I hope the both of them earn more than just a few minutes at the end of blowouts...

It is doubtful, to me, that this will make her a starter---but, she should get a lot of prime time playing. Let us see how this experience transfers to DIV ONE/Geno
I'm cheering for her, because even with a stable of 4 or 6 guards, we have learned, we never have too many good ones.

 

[Zarathustra]

Final Score: Italy 75 Portugal 64 Portugal took the
third quarter: 21 to 15 and the fourth quarter: 23 to 19.
Ines played 16 minutes and 42 seconds: 3 points.
# 33 for 6' 2" fouled out. Portugal significantly
outrebounded. A nice second half effort by Portugal: 44 to 34,
not enough to make up the difference.

 

[Zinethar]

@TCC Kid I think you missed what was meant. She was looking like a starter on the Portugal team not the UConn team. She showed some very nice passing skills but her teammates at times seemed unprepared to receive them. Overall a great experience for her!

 

[Zarathustra]

@TCC Kid I think you missed what was meant. She was looking like a starter on the Portugal team not the UConn team. She showed some very nice passing skills but her teammates at times seemed unprepared to receive them. Overall a great experience for her!

I agree about Ines being the PG of some Portuguese national team of the future.
Some of Ines' passess were ' right on", some were a little 'hot to handle" and a
number of times the receiver was not at the spot Ines was anticipationg. (timing
is everything!) Her shooting stroke using seemed true,... but indeed some
mistakes were made ( I belong to the " mistakes can be made club .. like
the USA women's soccer team on those last three penalty kicks at the World
Cup!) Go Ines.... you have a great future..... and please give Clara Silva 6'6"
a positive word about Storrs!!

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[Zarathustra]

Great highlight video! Those were the shots that kept Portugal in
the lead in a wild 4th Quarter. I loved INES' response to the
two pointer in the video on the left..... the one at the right was
not bad either. IMO ... Portugal has such a different style of
play from UCONN/ Geno that it must have been quite a
mental adjustment for INES. ( but she made some great passes ).
On to Zagreb, Croatia!!

 

[Bald Husky]

Great highlight video! Those were the shots that kept Portugal in
the lead in a wild 4th Quarter. I loved INES' response to the
two pointer in the video on the left..... the one at the right was
not bad either. IMO ... Portugal has such a different style of
play from UCONN/ Geno that it must have been quite a
mental adjustment for INES. ( but she made some great passes ).
On to Zagreb, Croatia!!

Some of Ines teammates couldn't handle some of her passes. Thats called the "Paige Effect", and she has learned it well.

 

[HuskyNan]