StingRays Overpower Williams

PORTLAND, Ore. — Employing their best blend yet of guile and grit, the StingRays won a third consecutive game Saturday, upending ABL Western Conference leader Portland, 77-72, before 5,174 at 10,900-seat Memorial Coliseum.

The win took a one-game bite out of the Power’s lead over second-place Long Beach. The StingRays can take out another bite this afternoon when the teams play again at the Pyramid.

The StingRays, playing their smartest game this season, slowed all-star center Natalie Williams for the first time in three games, particularly in the fourth quarter.

Instead of beating Long Beach in overtime as she did nine days ago, or sending a game into overtime with an impossible-looking three-pointer as she did in November, Williams was much less offensive this time.

Her production might have been fine for most players--18 points and 12 rebounds--but eight of her points were free throws. Blocked and screened out, she took only eight shots.

“Sort of hard to score if you don’t have the ball,” Power Coach Lin Dunn said.

“We didn’t do a good job of getting Natalie the ball in the stretch. Even at that, though, we had every opportunity to win the game but we kept missing free throws in the second half.”

Yolanda Griffith, who had a game-high 22 points on nine-for-13 shooting, said the game plan was executed correctly.

“We needed to put a good defensive game on Natalie, and we did it,” she said.

It was Long Beach’s fifth try at a three-game win streak and StingRay Coach Maura McHugh seemed delighted her team did it the night before beginning a four-game home stand.

“We talked a long time about Natalie. What we wanted to do was make sure our guards got back into the paint when they could see the ball was going to her in the low post,” she said.

Portland seemed in command early, logging a 30-17 lead in the second quarter. But Long Beach erased that with a 15-2 run. The rally ended emphatically at the halftime horn, when Trisha Stafford scored on a drive with to give the StingRays a 37-35 lead.

Griffith scored twice late in the third quarter, Niesa Johnson sank a three-pointer and Andrea Nagy (nine assists) made a layup for a 57-51 lead at the end of the three.

The StingRays survived a scare early in the third when Venus Lacy went down with what appeared to be a serious right knee injury. She couldn’t put weight on it when helped off the floor, but was back in the game in the final period.

In fact, she supplied a big play with a powerful putback underneath at the 5:50 mark, giving Long Beach a 61-59 lead.

Portland led twice by one point after that, but a Griffith free throw and a Nagy pickup of a Portland fumble and immediate layin and subsequent free throw made it 73-67 with 40 seconds to go.