Super twin powers

Sporting News, The, Dec 14, 1998 by Lori Riley

If not for the different jersey numbers, it would be all but impossible to tell the Miller twins apart.

Down to the Georgia-red scrunchies wrapped around their ponytails, the red sweatbands pulled high on their arms and the intensity they bring to their games, Georgia guards Kelly (No. 23) and Coco (No. 35) are identical.

They began playing together at age 3. They were high-school co-players of the year in Minnesota. They played golf, soccer and softball together. Now they share a room, a major (premed) and major court time at Georgia. Even their scoring averages are almost identical: Coco, 22 points per game; Kelly, 24.8 ppg.

Georgia coach Andy Landers probably wishes Mrs. Miller had had triplets. Without the Millers, injury-depleted Georgia would be in big trouble and certainly not in the top 10.

Things should improve for the 'Dogs, especially in the post, once 6-4 superfrosh center Tawana McDonald (sprained medial collateral ligament) returns around late December. Sophomore Kiesha Brown, who rehabbed her twice-injured knee, is playing her way back into shape.

The Millers have been the constants. It was that way last season, too, especially for Kelly, who stepped in at the point as a freshman and proceeded to lead the team in scoring, assists and steals.

Both lead the team in intensity--diving for loose balls, making steals, applying defensive pressure. But last season, Coco, in particular, became a little too intense. After several emotional outbursts in a game against Alabama, Landers sat her down and she came off the bench the rest of the season. This season, the two are more mature and better conditioned to handle the grueling stretches, though Georgia's early schedule hasn't been terribly taxing.

The Millers are quiet and reserved off the court. Coco has a thought, Kelly echoes it. Coco begins a sentence, Kelly finishes it. It's the same on the court. There's a connection, deeper than the one that simply develops between most teammates.

Says George Washington coach Joe McKeown, who led his team past Georgia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last March: "They play a game within a game. You can't just watch one of them. If you do, she'll find the other."

Triple threat

The most probable reasons UConn didn't score 100 points--for the first time in six games this season--in last Saturday's 88-42 win over Rhode Island was because coach Geno Auriemma decided to work on his half-court offense and Tamika Williams, UConn's third-leading scorer, did not play because of a groin injury.

The No. 1 Huskies are averaging 102 points and have scored 100-plus points against the likes of Duke, UCLA, Arkansas and Washington. And they are deeper than Tennessee was last season.

"I knew we were in trouble," says Holy Cross coach Bill Gibbons, whose team lost to UConn, 107-56, last week, "when I watched the film of the Arkansas game and Stacy Hansmeyer, who killed us last year, is getting like three or four minutes and she's their 10th or 11th player."

Even sophomore Shea Ralph, the team's second-leading scorer (18 ppg), comes off the bench.

The freshmen--Williams, Swin Cash, Keirsten Walters, Sue Bird and Asjha Jones--have lived up to expectations. Williams, Cash (who starts) and Jones control the inside game. Bird runs the team with aplomb and has not made many mistakes. Walters, who has had a slow start because of injuries (including a concussion from cracking heads with Ralph), is coming around.

Add the freshmen and Ralph to last season's Elite Eight team--unflappable center Paige Saner, sharp-shooting Big East preseason Player of the Year Svetlana Abrosimova and steady senior Amy Duran--and Tennessee's visit January 10 should provide quite a matchup.