Bird Lands, Aids Spartak To 77-58 Win

Jan 6, 2010 - 2009-10 EuroLeague Results & Standings

Sue Bird, who took a few months off from basketball, played her first game back with Spartak Moscow Region and aided her Russian club to a 77-58 victory over Szeviép. Bird shook off the dust to produce seven points, four assists and three steals, but it was her USA and former collegiate teammate Diana Taurasi who posted the top performance of the day. She nailed 4-of-9 from 3-point and finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Sylvia Fowles contributed 11 points, seven boards and three steals.

'Szeviép's team is a competitive one,' Bird told FIBA Europe. 'I felt good on the court, I enjoyed the entire game.'

Spartak jumped out to an early five-point lead and earned a 10-point, 25-15, cushion at the first quarter break. Szeviép hung around, however, and with 22 seconds to go in the third quarter, Olga Zherzherunova sunk a three to close to 58-51. Twenty seconds later Taurasi responded with her fourth and final three of the game and the lead was again 10 points, 61-51, with 10 minutes to play.

The game went stagnant and after more than two minutes of play in the fourth quarter, the score remained the same. Zherzherunova finally notched a point on her second of two from the line to get the scoring going again and give hope to the hometown fans. However, it would be her team's final points for more than four minutes. Former FIBA Europe Young Woman Player of the Year Anete Jekabsone-Zogota drilled a three to kick-start Spartak's offense. Jekabsone-Zogota follwed that with a steal and a pass to Taurasi for a layup. Fowles scored the next two buckets and with 4:18 to play, Spartak was up 70-52 and never looked back.

Fowles is averaging 13.8 ppg. and a EuroLeague 14th-best 7.5 rpg. She also ranks fourth among all EuroLeague competitors for field goal percentage (.614). Taurasi's 22.3 ppg. leads the league, she ranks second for field goals made per game (8.0), third for 3-pointers made per game (3.0) and 19th for assists (3.4 apg.).

Vote Now for the 2010 EuroLeague All-Star Game!
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Tina Thompson Heads to Europe
After also taking some time off, two-time Olympic gold medalist Tina Thompson has signed on to play in Romania for Municipal Targoviste, which hopes to advance to the EuroCup's next round. Thompson's first game should be tomorrow when Municipal Targoviste takes on the MBK Ruzomberok in an away game in the first of the two-game Sixteenth-Finals (round of 32) series. On Jan. 14 the Slovakian club will travel to Romania to see which team will advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The EuroCup, unlike the EuroLeague, features a two-game playoff series. If the teams split the two contests, the team with the best point differential advances to the next round. Ruzomberok advanced by finishing in second place in Group C, while Municipal Targoviste finished in a three-way tie for first in Group H with a 4-2 slate.

THOMPSON UPDATE
Tina Thompson gave her new team a reason to be pleased. She scored 13 points, pulled down 14 rebounds, dished out a pair of assists, had three steals and was credited for one blocked shot as Targoviste thumped Ruzomberok 90-68 on Thursday.