Spartak Moscow Region completed a sweep of its semifinal series in the Russian Superleague Playoffs on Sunday, defeating Kursk Dynamo 92-69 in Game 2 of their series. Kursk was within striking distance at home after three quarters, trailing 67-57, but Spartak clamped down and allowed just 12 points in the final period to win going away.

Pokey Chatman was able to limit her starters’ minutes. Sue Bird saw 23 minutes of action, scoring six points and handing out seven assists. Diana Taurasi scored a game-high 21 points in as many minutes, knocking down four three-pointers. Irina Osipova came off the bench to contribute 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The big surprise in Russia is that UMMC Ekaterinburg will need to win a deciding third game against Nadezhda after falling at home in Game 1, 77-76. Ekaterinburg got back on track yesterday with a blowout Game 2 win, 94-66, but will have to win Wednesday to set up an anticipated finals matchup against rested Spartak.

courtesy USA Basketball

Storm forward Swin Cash spent the weekend back in Connecticut, participating in the USA Basketball Women’s National Team training camp. A week’s worth of practices concluded with a scrimmage open to the public yesterday.

“It’s very important,” Cash said of the last USA Basketball extended training before the roster is chosen for this summer’s World Championship. “Not only for us and for what we want to do moving forward, obviously we have the World Championship coming up, but as you saw, there was a lot of young talent out there today. When you set the tone for them, they’ll understand as they go through the USA Basketball program what the expectations are for the level of play and how high the intensity level has to be. I think it’s great for them. It’s great for the coaching staff. At the end of the day we all got a good result out of this.”

With many U.S. players like Bird busy overseas, Cash was one of the veterans in camp, but playing for Geno Auriemma reminded her of the basics of the game she learned at UConn, she told the Hartford Courant in a feature article.

A few other Storm articles to check out. First, Lauren Jackson talks about her offseason to The Border Mail while at home in Albury, Australia. (HT: RebKell)

“I’m looking forward to the WNBA, I feel like I’ve been a bit spoiled, I’ve been home and having the time of my life, I’ve really missed being home and I don’t want to leave at all but I am looking forward to getting back to Seattle.

“I just feel fit and I feel very strong at the moment, I don’t know that I’ve ever felt this strong in my career before.”

Next up for Jackson is an Opals training camp before she arrives in Seattle at the start of May.

SwishAppeal checked in with a pair of stories about new Storm backup point guards. Contributor freelantz spoke with Alison Lacey’s coach at Iowa State, Bill Fennelly, about Lacey’s development and how she will fit in Seattle.

“For Aus to be picked by in my mind [by] the perfect team [is] the perfect situation for her,” he said. “Great coach, great organization and she’ll get to play with the best point guard in the world, Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson, her fellow Australian.”

And Q McCall took a look at what the addition of Loree Moore means for the Storm.

As important as (Shannon) Johnson was to the Storm last season as a veteran presence, Moore was a far more productive distributor last season with the Liberty. While neither was an aggressive scorer, Moore was by far the more trustworthy ball handler in terms of both pure point rating and turnover percentage and had an assist rate that was closer to average among distributors in the league. Defensively, Moore is known for her defensive ability and although she has not made an All-Defensive team in the last two years, last season her defensive numbers — never perfect metrics — were among the best of any point guard.

It was a historic weekend in Valencia, Spain for Spartak Moscow Region. Spartak knocked off Russian rival UMMC Ekaterinburg 87-79 in Friday’s semifinal matchup, then defeated host Ros Casares Valencia 87-80 Sunday in the championship game to lay claim to the Euroleague title for the fourth consecutive season. Spartak is the first four-time defending Euroleague champ since the competition was reorganized in 1991-92. Previously, AS Vicenza won four straight titles from 1985-88 and Dauvaga Riga once dominated the competition, winning 12 consecutive European Cup for Women’s Champions competitions from 1964-75.

Diana Taurasi powered Spartak to the championship. She was otherworldly against Ekaterinburg, scoring 37 points, grabbing 12 rebounds and handing out six assists. Taurasi made eight three-pointers in 13 attempts. Despite her efforts, Ekaterinburg led 67-63 after three quarters before the Spartak defense came alive, holding Ekaterinburg to 12 fourth-quarter points. With 1:16 left, Agnieszka Bibrzycka was called for an unsportsmanlike foul against Sylvia Fowles. The four-point possession pushed Spartak’s lead from two to six, and Ekaterinburg never again got closer than five points. Sue Bird had seven points, three rebounds and three assists in the win and Sylvia Fowles contributed a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds.

In the other semifinal, Ros Casares ended Wisla Can-Pack’s incredible run in an 86-57 blowout win. Playing in front of a passionate home crowd, Ros Casares led by 16 after one quarter and 22 at halftime. Erika de Souza led the victors with 23 points and 11 rebounds, DeLisha Milton-Jones scored 17 points and the Storm’s Jana Vesela contributed five points and three rebounds in 24 minutes. de Souza also held Storm center Janell Burse to five points and five rebounds on 1-of-9 shooting.

After Ekaterinburg trounced Wisla Can-Pack 84-50 to secure third place, the stage was set for a showdown in the championship matchup with Spartak having to overcome both a talented Ros Casares team and the Valencia crowd. Spartak opened up a 10-point lead in the second quarter, then kept Ros Casares at bay. The hosts got within three early in the fourth period, but Spartak answered with a 9-2 run and the lead was comfortable most of the rest of the way.

Taurasi was again the offensive leader with 29 points on 10-of-19 shooting, but Janel McCarville was key as well, putting up 20 points and 13 rebounds. Bird scored five points and handed out six assists. Five players scored double-figures for Ros Casares, led by 19 points from Milton-Jones. Vesela had five points and three rebounds.

Spartak celebrated the win by flashing four fingers for the number of championships. Players were also wearing t-shirts with the message “This is 4 Shabtai,” referring to late team owner Shabtai von Kalmanovic, who was murdered last fall.

“This is probably the sweetest of them all,” Taurasi, the Final Four’s MVP as she was in 2009, told FIBAEurope.com. She and Bird are the two imports left from Spartak’s first Euroleague titlest, which also defeated Ros Casares in the championship game in 2007 (Marina Karpunina and Irina Osipova have also been with Spartak for all four championships). As Jeff Taylor noted in his FIBAEurope.com column, Spartak could have a very different look next year. Already, Lauren Jackson left the team after participating in the last two championships (she joined the team strictly for the Russian playoffs in 2007). Whatever the future holds, it has been an amazing run for Spartak.

Storm guard Sue Bird has returned to Spartak Moscow Region for the second half of the 2009-10 Euroleague and Russian SuperLeague seasons. Bird, who finalized terms of her contract last week, made her debut today as Spartak made up a game against Szeviép that was postponed following the death of owner Shabtai von Kalmanovic.

Spartak won 77-58 in Hungary to join Wisla Can-Pack (led by Storm center Janell Burse) as the lone two Euroleague teams at 8-0. Bird started and played 30 minutes without a turnover, scoring seven points, dishing four assists and grabbing three steals. Diana Taurasi led Spartak with 22 points and 11 rebounds.

“Szeviép’s team is a competitive one,” said Bird. “I felt good on the court; I’ve enjoyed the entire game.”

Jayda Evans of the Seattle Times wrote about Bird’s decision to return to Spartak in the wake of Van Kalmanovic’s death. Storm teammate Lauren Jackson subsequently decided to play in her native Australia instead of in Russia this season.

“I still get very emotional when I talk about it,” said Bird via phone from her home in New York before leaving for Russia. “There’s always going to be something missing. Memories of him are going to flash for me when I’m there. But at the same time, and I know it’s somewhat cliché, he would really want us to go out there, have fun and win for him. He was one of the best at having fun in life. He’s missed.”