In her first-year, the Canadian born Bessette takes the A10 by storm.
In her first-year, the Canadian born Bessette takes the A10 by storm.
Loyola women’s basketball dropped a 70-58 home loss to the University of Rhode Island Jan. 3. The team sat at 4-10, 0-3 in the Atlantic 10 (A10), facing the reality of what could be another washout of a season. Since then, the Ramblers have rattled off five wins in their last six, finding themselves now 9-11 with a 5-4 conference record.
Behind the turnaround is a scoring force who’s led Loyola in points in three of those five wins, and earned two A10 Rookie of the Week honors in that time — first-year guard and forward Alex-Anne Bessette.
Bessette, a native of Québec City, Québec, started playing basketball after seeing her father Pierre-Alexandre and brother Louis-Félix play when she was young. From there, Bessette began playing at a local basketball club at the end of their street and instantly fell in love with the game.
Originally, Bessette said she didn’t realize playing Division I basketball was a possibility when she left her hometown to play in the AAU circuit for Kia Nurse Elite, of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League, which is regarded for attracting the top talent in Canada and consistently producing D1 athletes. This is when Bessette said she began gaining the attention of colleges like Loyola.
Head coach Allison Guth gushed about how badly she wanted Bessette to come to Rogers Park after one of Guth’s connections in coaching knew Bessette’s travel coach and recommended the school send someone to scout her.
“I sent one of our assistant coaches out right away to get a chance to go see her play in a tournament during her season,” Guth said. “She was everything and more than we even saw in film. I just believed in her so much. I just think she’s a true point forward. She can play every position on the floor.”
Guth and her staff’s dedication to bringing in Bessette went deep, with Bessette saying from the first phone call she felt like the staff truly knew her outside of basketball, remembering her family and even her pets. What she said really stood out about Loyola was how the staff talked about each other and the program.
“That was a big thing for me,” Bessette said. “Because recruiters can be all up on you for that recruitment period, and when you’re on the team, they don’t care about you, but here it’s so much different.”
When Bessette committed to Loyola April 6 Guth recalled the excitement of the entire coaching staff as they felt like a major change happened in the program.
“We will never forget as a coaching staff, being all huddled up on a phone call when she committed,” Guth said. “We just knew something had shifted for us because the future got really bright for Loyola women’s basketball when she committed.”
Before committing to Loyola, Bessette had already put together a stellar high school career in Canada as a three-time All-Canadian, leading her team to the 2025 Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association Championship while earning Second Team All-Star honors. She was a silver medalist for Canada at the 2024 FIBA U18 Women’s Americas Championship.
Bessette was one of 12 members selected to the Canadian team who competed in Colombia, averaging 4.3 points and 2.5 rebounds in 11 minutes per game. Of the 12 players on the team, all of them currently play Division 1 basketball in America, and three others play alongside Bessette in the A10, including Dayton guards Patricia Augustin and Oliva Leung.
Bessette said while she loves seeing fellow Canadians from the U18 squad in the NCAA, during games she wants to win and they’re not friends. After games it’s all love and support for each other.
What’s most impressive about Bessette’s rise to stardom in her first year is how quickly she’s done it. Due to her graduation date in Canada, Bessette, unlike other first-years, didn’t get the opportunity to spend the summer with the coaching staff and team prepping for the season, only joining the team shortly before their first scrimmage against Bradley University.
By the second game of the year for Loyola, where they hosted University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Bessette had already found herself in the starting lineup, but according to Guth, she was always in the lineup. Instead, the reason Bessette didn’t start the season opener was she was still recovering from what Guth called a “scary injury” when she hyperextended herself in the scrimmage against Bradley.
Since starting, Bessette has had an immediate impact for the Ramblers, leading the team in points at 12.4, good for 17th in the A10 and second among first-years, and leading the team in blocks at 0.7.
Off the court, Bessette said she is a renowned juggler, picking up the talent during PE classes over Zoom during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Being in the States before and coming from Québec City made the transition easier, but her biggest adjustment was no longer waving “hi” to everyone she passed on the street.
“I have a habit from home that I’ve always had is when I walk down the street, and I come across anyone, I would say ‘hi,’” Bessette said. “For some reason ever since being in the States, I stopped doing it because people wouldn’t say hi back.”
Bessette said her veteran teammates have helped with the adjustment, especially third-year guard Rosalie Mercille, a fellow Québec native, who also speaks French and Bessette says has had her back since day one, even welcoming her on her first visit.
As her first year continues, and her career at Loyola just begins, Guth said she believes the “sky is the limit” for a player like Bessette, with a potential WNBA future ahead.
“She’s gonna be an absolute pro,” Guth said. “We recruited her that way, we’ve always talked about, currently, Sitori [Van Buren] playing in Germany, [Emma and Sophia Nolan] are in Germany, Sam [Galanopoulos] in Greece, [Thoranna] Kika [Hodge-Carr] is playing professionally in Iceland and [Naelle Bernard] in France. That’s our alumni right now. We’ve wanted to fight to get one in the W[NBA]. So we talked to her, she’s gonna be a pro, so how do we continue to develop her?”
Despite the loft expectations, for now, Bessette turns her attention to Jan. 31, where she’ll look to lead Loyola to their fourth straight win over St. Bonaventure.
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