After three years of playing basketball in the United States, Tabitha Betson felt homesick this summer.
After a few months away from the game, she’s back.
The Colorado women’s basketball team announced Saturday that Betson has returned to the team after stepping away in July.
“I’m very excited,” Betson told BuffZone. “I definitely have missed playing and competing and everything, so I’m super excited to be back.”
The Buffs host Miami (Ohio) on Sunday, but Betson will be eased back into action over the next few weeks.
A native of Melbourne, Australia, Betson left home in 2022 to play her final two years of high school basketball at DME Academy in Daytona Beach, Florida, where she was a McDonald’s All-America nominee.
Ranked by ESPN HoopGurlz as the No. 48 recruit in the 2024 class, she signed with CU and played her freshman year with the Buffaloes last season. A 6-foot-2 forward, Betson averaged 5.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game last year.
This past spring, she was looking forward to her sophomore season but grew homesick as the summer began.
“I just felt like I really needed to be back home and spend some time with family, and just reconnect with them before coming back and finishing,” she said. “I just really felt like I needed to spend some time with my people and reconnect with myself.”
Betson said she didn’t know if it would be possible to ever come back to CU. But, she remained in contact with CU senior forward Jade Masogayo and expressed how much she missed playing with the Buffs.
“She was like, ‘Well, I can obviously talk to (CU head coach JR Payne) and see what’s happening,’” Betson said. “That’s kind of how that conversation with JR started.”
Several conversations with Payne later, Betson made plans to return at the conclusion of the fall semester, which wrapped up this week, and flights were booked.
“It’s a really big deal, especially with this year’s team having only a couple of veterans,” Payne said. “She’s going to provide that sort of veteran mentality of understanding how we do things. The current team knows now, but she also is just someone that has Big 12 experience, which very few team members have.”
CU has 10 newcomers this year and only three returning players from last year. Betson makes it four. She played in 30 games last year with 13 starts, averaging 18.0 minutes per game.
At the end of last season, Payne felt Betson was poised for a breakout season this year, and she is eager to add Betson’s skills back into the rotation.
“Tabitha is a great player,” Payne said. “She can play multiple positions and she’s strong. She can guard bigger players and can stretch the defense with her shooting, and she just does a lot that will really help us.”
Payne said there is no concern about Betson disrupting chemistry, in part because Betson played a key role in recruiting many of the newcomers before she left. So, she already has relationships with her teammates.
“I do feel like I mesh well with the group, on the court and off the court,” Betson said. “I feel like it’s going to be kind of an easy transition in terms of like, obviously, I already know the plays, I know what is expected of me.”
Betson also fills a need for the Buffs in providing a strong post presence.
“I kind of left them high and dry a little bit (in the post),” Betson said. “I’m happy to be back and be able to fill that spot.”
While she’s been away, Betson has kept up with the Buffs and watched their games, so she believes she has a good feel for how her teammates play. But, she hasn’t been playing basketball herself, other than training with some clubs near home.
“It’s going to take me a second to, like, get back to like this level, but I’m excited for the challenge,” she said.
CU Buffs women’s basketball vs. Miami (Ohio)
TIPOFF: Sunday, 1 p.m., CU Events Center in Boulder
TV/RADIO: ESPN+/KHOW 630 AM
RECORDS: Colorado 7-3, 0-0 Big 12; Miami 7-3, 0-0 MAC
COACHES: Colorado — JR Payne, 10th season (171-119; 272-232 career). Miami — Glenn Box, 3rd season (35-35)
KEY PLAYERS: Colorado — F Anaelle Dutat, 6-0, Sr. (9.4 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.1 spg, .515 fg%); F Logyn Greer, 6-4, Fr. (10.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg, .471 fg%); F Jade Masogayo, 6-3, Sr. (7.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.2 apg); G Kennedy Sanders, 5-8, So. (10.0 ppg, 2.1 apg, 2.1 spg); G Zyanna Walker, 5-11, Jr. (9.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.1 apg, 2.3 spg); G Desiree Wooten, 5-8, Jr. (10.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.5 spg). Miami — F Ilse De Vries, 6-3, So. (11.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg, .483 fg%); G Nuria Jurjo, 5-10, Jr. (8.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.1 spg, 2.4 spg, .421 3pt%); G Amber Scalia, 5-9, Sr. (14.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.7 apg); G Tamar Singer, 5-4, So. (11.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 7.4 apg, 1.9 spg); F Amber Tretter, 6-1, Jr. (13.4 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 2.2 apg, .544 fg%, .441 3pt%).
NOTES: CU is aiming for a third consecutive victory. … This is the fourth game of a five-game home stand that concludes Tuesday against Northern Colorado (7 p.m., ESPN+). … This is just the second all-time meeting between CU and the Redhawks. The Buffs won the first meeting, 82-68, on Nov. 28, 1998, in Boulder. … Dutat ranks 23rd in the country with 3.9 offensive rebounds per game. … CU has outrebounded 8 of 10 opponents. One other game, the teams were even. The one time CU was outrebounded was against UT-Arlington, by just one board. … Miami was projected for a seventh-place finish in the 13-team MAC in a preseason poll of coaches. … Tretter earned preseason second-team All-MAC recognition. … Miami is one of the better shooting teams in the country, hitting .465 (37th) from the floor, .359 from 3-point range (49th) and .771 on free throws (31st). … Singer ranks eighth in the country in assists per game.