Nagy, StingRays Are a Nice Fit

A year ago, some in Seattle wondered why Kate Paye was starting as the Seattle Reign’s point guard, over Andrea Nagy.

Including Nagy.

Here’s how Nagy saw it:

Paye is from Stanford.

Nagy is from Budapest.

Now with the Long Beach StingRays, Nagy led the way to an 83-75 victory over the Reign on Saturday.

Nagy (pronounced NAWJ), laughed afterward, apparently believing she had made her point . . . but she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

The 5-foot-6 point guard out of Florida International University scored 18 points--10 of them on drives through Seattle’s interior defense--and had eight assists.

By comparison, second-year starter Paye had six points, three assists and six turnovers (to Nagy’s five).

“I play as hard as I can, every game,” Nagy said.

Nagy had help from teammate Yolanda Griffith, who contributed 20 points, 12 rebounds and six steals.

Nagy has been solid at the point for Long Beach, while Paye has been less consistent.

Nagy was asked before the game why she wasn’t able to beat out Paye last season.

“Because she went to Stanford,” she said.

But Seattle (3-8), a team with four Stanford players--including Kate Starbird, who had a game-high 22 points--was no match for Stanford-less Long Beach (6-4).

The StingRays, who got 59 points from Griffith, Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil and Nagy, led most of the way and survived a late scare when Seattle made a run.

Long Beach, which ended a two-game losing streak, went flat once, when Seattle went on a 9-0 run in the final minutes. That cut Long Beach’s margin to 71-65, and got the crowd of 3,116 into the game.

But Long Beach’s Beverly Williams scored on a drive and made two free throws 18 seconds later, helping her team to a 77-67 lead.

Seattle, a team without a true post player, was ineffective on the boards against Long Beach, which had a 48-29 edge.

And Griffith was nearly unstoppable. In making nine of 10 shots, she raised her accuracy mark to 60%, just behind Portland’s Natalie Williams (62%).

Long Beach Coach Maura McHugh attributed the team’s success largely to Nagy, who asked forand received her release from Seattle and joined Long Beach’s training camp in September as a tryout player.

Nagy said her drives down the lane surprised her former teammates.

“I never did that last year, I almost always dished off. And since they felt they knew me pretty good, I knew they wouldn’t expect me to drive,” she said.

ABL Notes

Seattle and Long Beach play again today at 2 p.m. at the Pyramid. . . . Nagy entered the game third in the ABL in assists at six per game.