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.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 2:40 pm and is filed under bird, overseas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.