Kelly Miller (born September 6, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. She is the

identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

sister of fellow basketball player

Coco Miller Colleen Mary “Coco” Miller (born September 6, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. She is the identical twin sister of fellow WNBA player Kelly Miller. Early years Born in Rochester, Minnesota, Coco played basketball w ...

Early years

Born in

Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic. Acco ...

, Kelly initially was interested in playing soccer and not basketball at high school, soon she joined her sister Coco. They also helped their school go 27–0 and win the

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

state's class 4A championship. Miller was named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the WBCA High School All-America Game where she scored thirteen points.

College years

The twins went to

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

, where they both majored in biology and won a series of awards, including the

James E. Sullivan Award The AAU James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), is awarded annually in April to "the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States". Representatives from the AAU created the AAU Sullivan Award with the int ...

, given to the nation's top amateur athlete. They earned that award in 1999, becoming the first pair of twins to earn the award, and joining

Carl Lewis Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 1996, ...

Greg Louganis Gregory Efthimios Louganis (; born January 29, 1960) is an American Olympic diver, LGBT activist, and author who won gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics on the springboard and platform. He is the only man and the second diver in Ol ...

Bill Walton William Theodore Walton III (born November 5, 1952) is an American television sportscaster and former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for coach John Wooden and the UCLA Bruins, winning three consecutive national ...

Bill Bradley William Warren Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American politician and former professional basketball player. He served three terms as a Democratic U.S. senator from New Jersey (1979–1997). He ran for the Democratic Party's nomination f ...

, Kurt Thomas,

Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is a retired American track and field athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the heptathlon as well as long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals in tho ...

and

Janet Evans Janet Beth Evans (born August 28, 1971) is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in distance freestyle events. Evans was a world champion and world record-holder, and won a total of four gold medals at the 1988 and the 1992 Ol ...

as recipients of the award. Kelly ranked second in points among University of Georgia women players with 2,177; second in assists with 639; fourth in steals with 379 and tenth in rebounds with 711. She is the only player in UGA women's basketball to rank among the top ten in points, assists, steals and rebounds. She became the third player in that university's history to pass over 2,000 points, and the third player in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

's (SEC) history to garner "Player of the Week" awards three weeks in a row.

Georgia statistics

Source

USA Basketball

Miller played on the team presenting the US at the 1999 World University Games held in

Palma de Mallorca, Spain Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of Mallorca ...

. The team had a 4–2 record and earned the silver medal. Miller averaged 10.2 points per game.

WNBA career

In 2001 both Kelly and Coco both entered the WNBA Draft. Kelly was selected by the

Charlotte Sting The Charlotte Sting were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the league's eight original teams. The team folded on January 3, 2007. The Sting was originally the sister organization of ...

2nd overall in the 1st round, where she averaged 4.6 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game in her rookie year. Kelly spent three seasons with the Sting as a utility player before she was traded to the

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the 2000 season began. The team is owned ...

prior to the 2004 season. It was with the Fever that Kelly finally became a first-string player on the team, starting on all 34 games she played in the 2004 season. After the 2005 season ended, Kelly was traded to the

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The team was founded before the league ...

, in exchange for Anna DeForge. On January 30, 2009, Miller was traded along with LaToya Pringle to the Minnesota Lynx for Nicole Ohlde.

NWBL career

After the 2002 WNBA season, both sisters played for the

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Power of the

National Women's Basketball League The National Women's Basketball League, often abbreviated to the NWBL, was an organization governing professional basketball leagues for women in the United States. The league was founded in 1997 and began play in the Fall of that year. The league ...

(NWBL).

International career

* 2002–2003: Fenerbahçe Istanbul (

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

) * 2003–2004: Fenerbahçe Istanbul (

) * 2004–2005: Chuncheon Woori Bank Hansae ( WKBL, South Korea) * 2005–2006: US Valenciennes Olympic (

LFB The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the Fire department, fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. It ha ...

, France) * 2006–2007: Lattes-Maurin Montpellier (

, France) * 2007–2009:

Spartak Moscow Region Women's Basketball Club Sparta&K is a women's basketball team based in Vidnoye, Russia that plays in FIBA’s EuroLeague Women. History It won the 2005–06 EuroCup Women and the 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09 and 2009–10 EuroLeague Women ...

(

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

)

Notes

External links

Kelly Miller's WNBA Profile page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Kelly 1978 births Living people All-American college women's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Russia American expatriate basketball people in South Korea American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American women's basketball players Atlanta Dream players Basketball players from Minnesota Charlotte Sting players Fenerbahçe women's basketball players Georgia Lady Bulldogs basketball players Identical twins Indiana Fever players James E. Sullivan Award recipients Minnesota Lynx players New York Liberty players Parade High School All-Americans (girls' basketball) Phoenix Mercury players Point guards Sportspeople from Rochester, Minnesota American twins Twin sportspeople Universiade medalists in basketball Universiade silver medalists for the United States Washington Mystics players Women's Korean Basketball League players