Wednesday evening, Ramla's practice ends but all of a sudden everyone feels like shooting some extra shots. Players sit down for some more stretching, or just to play with Laine Selwyn’s and Jackie Johnson’s puppies. Nobody’s in a rush to get home, everyone’s waiting for the moment the door opens and two very familiar faces will once again walk into the gym. Monique Currie & Plenette Pierson were flooded with hugs the moment they walked in, there’s definitely no place like home.
B.C Moscow pulled the robbery of the year. Straight off an Israeli championship and cup, the Russian club signed the amazing American due which led Ramla to the titles, Monique Currie and Plenette Pierson. Moscow is currently 4th in the Russian league standings with a 12-5 record behind CSKA, UMMC and Spartak and their WNBA like rosters. Just like they were in Israel, Mo & P are the best foreigner combo in the league, ranking 3rd and 4th in the top scorers table. Pierson averages 18.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, while Currie adds 18.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
“The food”, said Pierson, “the fans”, said Currie, “just the life“, said Pierson, “the weather!!” they both shouted together in response to the question what they miss the most about Ramla. Ramla’s been going through a very tough season but still it feels so natural to see these two back in this gym, like they’re about to put on some yellow-black jerseys and tear up the league again. Currie’s 21.9 points and Pierson’s 19.7 points per game last year combined for 48% of Ramla’s offense. “It’s exciting for us to be here, we had a great season last year. It’s good to come back and see good people”, said Pierson.
Life in Russia are much harder. “It’s cold, there’s the language barrier cause there’s not a lot of English, it’s big place and it’s harder to get around”, said Currie. On the court, Moscow is faced with teams that have 5-6 WNBA players, some of them with Russian passports. “Its tough but it makes the league more interesting to be able to play a lot of good players and good teams”, said Currie.
Despite the physical distance, Pierson & Currie have kept in touch with their old teammates and stay up to date on everything that goes on. “I talk to Laine a lot, and as soon as the brackets came out I knew we had a chance to play them so I kept telling her to win, and we needed to win so we could play each other”, said Currie. As for keeping up with the scores, you can bet they do that too. “Of course, every Monday, every Tuesday”, said Pierson and Currie nodded, “every day, I check 'Safsal'”.
So what are the odds of them walking into the wrong locker room tomorrow? Pretty high judging by the laugh that question generated. "I think that’s gonna happen, maybe after the game” said Currie and they both admitted they don’t know where the visitors’ locker room even is. “I don’t even need to warm up”, Currie continued, “I know the gym”. “Yeah,” said Pierson and took it to the next level, “we can shoot with our eyes closed” she said, and truth is it’d be awfully nice if they tried it tomorrow.
There’s no question that Jackie Johnson’s injury takes a lot of sting out of the match up. Both ex-Ramla girls seemed genuinely disappointed for their former team having to play without her. “Yeah, we heard. She’s a big part of their team but it’s the final four so everybody will be ready to play”, said Currie. What comes as no surprise is the fact Pierson, who is known for her tendency to impersonate a coach, has been watching film on Ramla. “I think it’ll be a good match up, we’re two different teams. I think it will come down to defense, who can stop who the most”, she said.
What can we say, we sure missed them.
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Currie & Pierson back in Ramla |