StingRays Regain Winning Feeling

Yolanda Griffith and Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil combined for 52 points Sunday afternoon, guiding the Long Beach StingRays to an 88-65 victory over the Philadelphia Rage in front of 3,008 fans at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

Philadelphia (5-8), winding up a four-game West Coast trip, saw the game slip away in the first quarter, a familiar pattern lately. The Rage has lost four in a row.

“Our last three games, we’ve fallen in a hole in the first quarter, and it takes a lot of energy to pull yourself out, particularly against a talented team like this,” Rage Coach Lisa Boyer said

Long Beach Coach Maura McHugh wouldn’t call it her team’s best effort of the season, but it sure looked like it.

The StingRays (7-5) shot 50% from the floor, made 17 of 20 from the free throw line and had 11 steals. And they got excellent defensive games from guards Andrea Nagy and Beverly Williams, who limited the Rage’s Dawn Staley to eight points.

Staley had been averaging 17 a game and was shooting 48% from three-point range, but not Sunday.

“What I liked about us today is that we did have some cold spots, but we picked it up immediately with some tough defense and rebounding,” McHugh said.

The 6-foot-4 Griffith was overpowering inside, leaping over Philadelphia’s 6-3 La’Keshia Frett, 6-0 Adrianne Goodson and 6-3 Taj McWilliams consistently on offensive putbacks and rebounds.

She was nine for 13 from the floor and had 11 rebounds and four steals in 33 minutes.

Davis-Wrightsil had her most productive game, scoring 25 points that included 5 for 10 on three-point shots. Williams had her usual superb floor game, with 7-of-12 shooting, and point guard had Andrea Nagy had a season-high 11 assists.

“This was a great win, coming off that [84-82] Seattle loss [a week ago],” Griffith said.

Said Williams, noting that Long Beach had lost three in a row at home: “We had a good week of practice, but we got tired of playing each other. We’re determined not to lose at home again this season.”

The Long Beach breakaway occurred early and the StingRays maintained a commanding lead to the finish. In fact, their largest margin, was the final score, achieved on a Trisha Stafford putback with four seconds left.

Williams, on fire offensively in the first half, scored on four of five possessions early in the first period to boost Long Beach from a 5-4 lead to 14-4, finishing her run with a three-pointer.

Philadelphia crept back briefly in the third period, to within nine points, but Long Beach, led by Griffith, twice had 20-point leads in the final quarter.

ABL Notes

Philadelphia’s Kristin Cummings, ex-Long Beach State standout, is out up to eight weeks after foot surgery. . . . Ex-USC center Michelle Campbell had a strong game off the bench, with five points and a blocked shot in 16 minutes.

*

Portland 72, Colorado 70--Elaine Powell sank a 12-foot, off-balance jumper with 5.1 seconds left to boost the Power over the Xplosion in front of 6,058 at Portland.

Atlanta 79, San Jose 70--Teresa Edwards had 20 points and 12 rebounds, and the Glory built an early advantage then held off the Lasers for the victory in front of 3,506 at Atlanta.

New England 66, Columbus 52--Dale Hodges scored seven points in a 21-6 run to start the third quarter as the Blizzard beat the Quest in front of 11,289, the third-largest crowd in ABL history, at Hartford, Conn.