StingRays Achieve a Breakthrough

The up-and-down Long Beach StingRays were up Thursday against the Philadelphia Rage, winning, 90-72, after achieving a 50-19 turnaround midway through the game.

The game was played in a cradle of East Coast basketball, the 70-year-old, 8,700-seat Palestra at the University of Pennsylvania, before 1,521. They braved hundreds of chanting, placard-bearing pro-Tibet demonstrators protesting the presence of China President Jiang Zemin, visiting next door to the Palestra.

The victory, coming after a blowout loss to Columbus in Long Beach Tuesday, made the StingRays 4-2 and secure in second place in the ABL’s Western Conference, behind Portland (6-1). Philadelphia slipped to 4-2.

Yolanda Griffith led the StingRays with 23 points and 15 rebounds.

The victory, however, may have been costly. Center Venus Lacy, hit on the forehead by an elbow late in the third quarter, was taken after the game to a hospital for overnight observation.

Lacy, the 6-foot-4 1996 U.S. Olympian who suffered a serious head injury in a Mississippi auto accident last spring and who suffered from recurring headaches in training camp this season, was examined by Philadelphia Eagle physician Dr. Arthur Bartolozzi.

“She sustained a concussion,” he said. “She seems stable, but any time it’s someone with a head injury history, it’s a concern. She seemed to me a little fuzzy.”

Meanwhile, the StingRays trailed, 40-29, in the second quarter before going on a 10-0 run before halftime. They stayed hot in the second half, completing their 50-19 run with a 79-59 lead at 4:52 of the fourth quarter.

Philadelphia’s Dawn Staley was held to 10 points, her lowest output of the season.

ABL Notes

Katie Smith scored 21 points as the defending ABL champion Columbus Quest (5-2) ended visiting Portland’s season-opening six-game winning streak with a 65-55 victory before 2,514.