Quanitra Hollingsworth & Renee Montgomery
This pair of '09 Lynx draftees made their respective EuroLeague debuts on Wednesday, as their squad, TEO Vilnius traveled to Russia to take on UMMC Ekaterinburg.
TEO jumped out early, thanks in large part to Hollingsworth's 10 first-quarter points. Trailing 25-23 after one, two Renee Montgomery baskets evened things at 27-27 in the early stages of quarter number two. It was all UMMC from there, as Deanna Nolan and company proved to be too much for the Lithuanian squad. UMMC, a EuroLeague Final Four participant a year ago, took a 43-32 lead into halftime, and pulled away in the second half to claim an 85-56 win. Hollingsworth tallied a game-high 17 points, while pulling down 15 rebounds, also a game high. Montgomery tallied 11 points and 2 assists in 33 minutes.
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Charde Houston
After playing in the EuroCup last year with Raanana Hertzliya (Israel), Houston made her EuroLeague debut yesterday with French squad Tarbes. They hosted Hungarian club Szeviep.
Tarbes dominated throughout the early stages of the contest, taking a 14-point lead after three quarters. The Hungarian entry made it a game in the fourth, actually taking a 78-77 lead with 2:23 to play before German international Anne Breitreiner's free-throw with 23 seconds to play made it 81-80, sealing the game for Tarbes. Houston, who currently leads the French league in scoring at 20.5 ppg, scored 7 points to go along with 2 rebounds and 1 assist.
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Kelly Miller
Kelly Miller returns to three-time defending EuroLeague champion Spartak Moscow for the 09-10 European season. Spartak opened its 2009-10 EuroLeague season Wednesday by facing off against Frisko Sika Brno in Group D action.
Despite trailing 23-22 after one, Diana Taurasi and company took control of the game in the second stanza, outscoring Frisco 27-15 in the period to take a 49-38 lead at half. The second half featured much of the same dominance from Spartak, as it cruised to the 95-71 tournament-opening win. In 14 minutes, Miller totaled 4 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds and 2 steals.
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Anna Montaņana
The 2009 mid-season pickup spends her 2009-10 winter playing for Valencia-based Ros Casares. The perennial Spanish power opened up its EuroLeague campaign yesterday against TTT Riga.
Wednesday's contest was over from the get-go, as Ros used a 30-11 first quarter to effectively put away the Latvian squad. Montaņana and Ros poured it on from there, eventually knocking off Riga 118-38. Montaņana scored 11 points and added 7 rebounds and 4 assists in 20 minutes.
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