Against StingRays, Reign Rules, 85-61

On a night when the Long Beach StingRays turned in a poor offensive performance, the lowly Seattle Reign put together four solid quarters Friday night for the first time this season on its way to a 85-61 victory.

For Long Beach, here’s how bad it was:

* Trailing 53-37 midway through the third quarter, the StingRays’ Yolanda Griffith, Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil and Cass Bauer all had five shots at the basket on the same possession--a Griffith miss followed by four missed put-backs.

* Late in the fourth quarter, when Seattle (6-11) had already secured a victory, Long Beach’s Dana Wilkerson stole the ball, had an uncontested layup . . . and missed.

* The StingRays made only two of 11 three-point shots.

And so it went, with Long Beach (8-7)--still looking for its first three-game win streak of the season--tumbling out of contention well before halftime.

The win broke a three-game losing streak for Seattle (6-11) and was registered before 3,212 at Mercer Arena. The game was up against the Seattle SuperSonics two blocks away at KeyArena and the Rolling Stones at the Kingdome.

Kate Starbird gave Seattle a lead it never relinquished, 18-15, on a three-point shot with two seconds left in the first quarter.

And then Seattle’s new star, rookie Astou Ndiaye of Senegal and Southern Nazarene in Oklahoma, took charge. She started the second quarter with an easy shot underneath, then made an 18-footer, a short hook, a fastbreak layup and another hook, this one over Griffith, and Seattle had a 28-19 lead.

During Ndiaye’s run, Long Beach went five minutes without a point.

Ndiaye had 18 points in 18 minutes. Shalonda Enis, who made the last-second shot that beat Long Beach at the Pyramid Nov. 9, had a game-high 23 and 10 rebounds.

Griffith, the ABL’s leading rebounder, had a season-low five rebounds in Seattle’s collapsing defense, and 16 points. Long Beach shot 33%, another season low.

The StingRays complained throughout the second half about officiating--Seattle shot 35 free throws, Long Beach 17--and drew two technicals, one on Coach Maura McHugh, one on backup center Bauer.

Seattle Coach Jacquie Hullah praised her two rookies, the 6-3 Ndiaye and the 6-2 Starbird.

“Astou is a very talented player who played on four national champion NAIA teams, so she’s used to winning,” said Hullah, who also benched starting point guard Kate Paye in favor of Kira Orr for the game.

Starbird had only 11 points, but two of her baskets were fastbreak layups that opened up Seattle’s lead in the third quarter, taking the Reign from 41-29 to 45-29.

“She’s really learning the pro game quickly,” Hullah said.

“Look at our game tapes from games one through nine and you can see it--learning how to get into the offensive flow, being a solid defender, moving without the ball. She’s a great player.”

McHugh: “We came out flat, we played flat and we stayed flat. That one possession where we missed five times--that typified the way we played.”

Said Griffith, when asked if her team’s worst game was behind it:

“With all those easy shots we missed? I sure hope so.”

Other Games

Beth Morgan scored seven of her 12 points in the fourth quarter as the Philadelphia Rage (6-10) ended a six-game losing streak with a 73-66 victory over the Portland Power (12-5) before 3,322 at Philadelphia. For the Power, Katy Steding had 18 points and six rebounds and Natalie Williams had 14 points and 13 rebounds. . . . Crystal Robinson had 23 points and nine rebounds to lead the Colorado Xplosion (8-8) to a 79-73 victory over the San Jose Lasers (6-13) before 3,125 at Denver. The Xplosion outscored the Lasers, 29-15, in the fourth quarter.