StingRays Discover Defeat at Columbus

If winning the ABL championship means beating Columbus, the Long Beach StingRays needn’t bother clearing any shelf space in their offices for a trophy.

That seemed clear Sunday after the defending league champion Quest racked up a second consecutive easy victory over Long Beach, 78-61, Columbus’ fifth win in a row.

The loss follows a 98-72 thumping Columbus (7-2) put on the StingRays (5-3) last week at the Pyramid. After that one, an irate Long Beach Coach Maura McHugh talked about some of her players “going in the tank” and called the team’s performance “pathetic.”

But she had officiating on her mind Sunday after 2,013 in 6,313-seat Battelle Hall watched Columbus dominate a rugged, physical game.

“Sometimes it was like a boxing match . . . people setting picks in players’ faces,” she said, being careful not to directly criticize the officials, which would draw a fine.

“They held [Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil’s] shirt every single time she came off a pick, and we got that call once. The back of her jersey is stretched out. We need some guidelines from the league--if that’s the tone they want to the games, we need to know that. We can play that way too.”

Columbus’ Andrea Lloyd seemed to say “Welcome to the big leagues.”

“We’re a very aggressive defensive team and they’re not used to it,” she said. “I could hear their coach yelling about pushing and stuff . . . well, that’s how we play. We spend up to 75% of our practice time on defense.”

Long Beach led, 14-13, when reserve guard Dana Wilkerson made a 14-foot jumper at the first-quarter buzzer. After that, the StingRays were never in it. Columbus posted a 16-4 run in the second quarter, a 10-2 sprint in the third and had several 20-point leads in the fourth.

Both teams finished with substitutes on the floor, Columbus having registered a 53-36 lead after three periods.

In addition to giving up the aggressive edge to Columbus, Long Beach also had no luck.

In the second quarter, Beverly Williams scored for Columbus when an errant pass bounced off her hand and went into the basket.

In the fourth quarter, Nicky McCrimmon blocked a pass beyond the three-point arc, but the ball found Columbus’ Shannon Johnson alone under the basket, where she scored easily.

Columbus Coach Brian Agler said he wants to avoid the late-season slump his team had last season.

“This time last year we were winning games by 25 points . . . then we had to scratch and claw to get into the playoffs,” he said.

ABL Notes

The StingRays play the New England Blizzard at Hartford on Tuesday night in the second game of their four-game trip. . . . Agler on the loss of Nikki McCray, the league’s most valuable player last season: “We miss her defense more than anything. On offense, she was always attacking the basket and she kept opponents on their heels a lot of the time.” The StingRays’ Venus Lacy will return to Long Beach after being examined in Ruston, La., for the concussion she suffered Thursday in Philadelphia. . . . StingRay backup center Cass Bauer, who played for Columbus last year, was presented her ABL championship ring in a pregame ceremony.