Stafford Gives the StingRays Two in a Row Over Portland

Having learned how to beat the Portland Power Saturday night in Portland, the Long Beach StingRays applied their newfound job skills to their own workplace Sunday . . . and did it again.

The StingRays recorded a 66-65 victory before 1,876 at the Pyramid for their third straight win and the seventh in their last nine games.

The StingRays (15-10) moved up to just two games behind Portland (17-11) in the win column in the ABL’s Western Conference race.

Like Saturday’s game in Portland, this one, too, went down to the final seconds.

After Portland’s Katy Steding seemed to hesitate on a missed three-point shot with Portland leading, 65-64, with 27 seconds left, a scramble for the ball resulted in a jump ball possession for Long Beach.

Then came the winning play, a perfectly executed drive-and-dish by point guard Andrea Nagy to Trisha Stafford, with five seconds left. From the baseline, Stafford drove into the paint and softly laid in the winning basket.

Portland’s Falisha Wright took a baseline jumper at the horn, but it was blocked by Long Beach guard Niesa Johnson, a stopper who played her best defensive game since coming to Long Beach in a Nov. 14 trade.

As in Saturday night’s win, Long Beach shut down Portland’s Natalie Williams in the stretch. The ABL’s No. 2 rebounder and scorer pretty much had her way with the Long Beach defense early, but not in the final seven minutes.

She finished with 22 points on eight-for-12 shooting and had 11 rebounds.

But she got off just one shot after scoring on a drive with 7:05 left to give Portland a 53-51 lead. Afterward, she wasn’t happy about it.

She dismissed any notion that tough-in-the-stretch Long Beach defense had much to do with it.

“I don’t know why they [her teammates] went away from me. . . . I feel I was as open at the end as I was earlier,” she said.

“Other teams in the league are getting better and we’re not. Maybe we need a team meeting when we get home.”

Back-to-back victories over the Power gives the StingRays a mental boost, Long Beach Coach Maura McHugh said.

“It’s such a big one for us, not just because they’re ahead of us in the standings but because they’re a good team and we beat them back-to-back,” she said.

Said the StingRays’ Yolanda Griffith, who scored 24 points and had 15 rebounds: “We beat the No. 1 team back-to-back--now we know we’re a good team.”

Portland, loser of three straight, fouled up its last play, Coach Lin Dunn said.

“On the last possession, Elaine Powell was supposed to go right on the drive, to force their defense to the baseline, and she went left,” she said.

StingRay Notes

Correction: Long Beach’s third straight win came Sunday, not Saturday, as was reported in The Times. . . . The Jan. 10 New England-Long Beach game at the Pond will start at 6 p.m. . . . Portland has lost a key sub for its stretch run. Laticia Morris is out for the duration because of knee surgery and has been replaced on the roster by Charmin Smith. . . . Next for the StingRays: San Jose, at the Pyramid on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.