Wauters Russian Champ, Christon Israeli MVP

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Wauters celebrates a win.
(Courtesy Didier Crasnault)
New York, NY - May 5, 2005 - If off-season success is any indication, the Liberty is bound to do well in 2005. Shameka Christon and Crystal Robinson won the Israeli Championship last week. Yesterday Ann Wauters won the Russian Championship. Meanwhile, Christon was rewarded for her efforts as she was just named the Israeli Player of the Month for April and the Finals MVP.

In a Liberty-led Russian Finals, Wauters' VBM-SGAU SAMARA defeated Elena Baranova's Dynamo Moscow in Game Four of the series, 80-69, to win the Championship. SAMARA won the Finals, 3-1. In yesterday's victory, Wauters scored 18 points on 8-10 field goal shooting. She also added five rebounds. Baranova recorded eight points to go along with 10 rebounds. In Game Three, won by Dynamo, 69-67, Baranova was a beast on the boards. She pulled down 17 rebounds, along with 13 points. Both players will now rejoin their teammates in New York.

After a stellar Israeli playoff performance, Christon was just named the Finals MVP and the league's Player of the Month for last month. In six games in April, two semi-finals and four finals games, she averaged 17.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Her Elizur Ramla defeated Anda Ramat Hasharon to win the Championship, the team's second straight and fifth overall.