Griffith and StingRays Defuse Colorado, 76-64

Yolanda Griffith staged another strong performance and Long Beach’s ABL team registered another victory Saturday night, a 76-64 beating of the Colorado Xplosion.

Griffith, the 6-foot-4, 27-year-old refugee from the German pro leagues, hauled down 20 rebounds, two short of the ABL record. She scored 27 points, blocked three shots and had four steals, all in 35 minutes.

Griffith, who had 26 points and nine rebounds in the StingRays’ opening victory Friday night against San Jose, was a force at both ends of the court and Coach Maura McHugh saluted her afterward.

“Yo has a great nose for the ball and she’s got those long arms and quick feet . . . you just can’t box her out,” McHugh said.

The StingRays signed autographs at the Pyramid after Friday night’s game, but lack of sleep didn’t seem to slow them down 24 hours later, in another time zone.

Certainly not Griffith.

Her 14 defensive rebounds tied the ABL record, done twice last season by Portland’s Natalie Williams, who also set the overall record of 22.

Griffith eclipsed a superlative game by Colorado’s Tari Phillips, who had 18 rebounds and 18 points.

A crowd of 4,257 watched in Denver’s 17,000-seat McNichols Arena.

Griffith almost single-handedly dominated both boards. Long Beach outrebounded Colorado, 60-44, yet no other StingRay had more than six.

Griffith and Beverly Williams had driven the StingRays to their biggest lead, 62-43, with seven minutes to play when Long Beach suddenly went dry. Crystal Robinson and Debby Black generated an 11-0 run to make the score, 62-54, forcing a time out by an angry McHugh.

After that, Griffith righted things with a putback and a pair of free throws.

ABL Notes

The StingRays (2-0) play the Xplosion (0-1) again Tuesday night at 7:30 at the Pyramid. . . Colorado’s Sylvia Crawley warmed up the crowd by dunking repeatedly in the warmups. . . San Jose Laser Coach Angela Beck’s spin on Long Beach’s surprising victory Friday at the Pyramid: “We had a high-energy opener Wednesday at home, we played very hard and very well in beating Seattle. Long Beach had two weeks to focus on us. We had two days. They had fresh legs, we didn’t.” . . . . StingRay Coach Maura McHugh said Griffith was unhappy with her 26-point, nine-rebound game against the Lasers. “She told me she played a terrible game, because she missed some free throws in the final two minutes. . . . I can’t wait to see her good game.”