StingRays Ride Trio to Another Victory

The Long Beach StingRays turned loose Andrea Nagy’s crackling floor game, Venus Lacy’s unerring 15-foot jump shot and Yolanda Griffith’s rebounding prowess in the final four minutes for their second consecutive 85-70 victory Tuesday night, this one over the New England Blizzard.

It also was Long Beach’s third victory in its last four games. The StingRays (22-15) stayed the course in the ABL’s Western Conference race, tightening their grip on second place, while New England (20-20) held on to second in the East.

It was a lively, spirited game--one that almost produced fisticuffs in the third quarter, when StingRay point guard Nagy caught her Blizzard counterpart Jen Rizzotti in the mouth with an elbow.

Rizzotti went down and jumped back up with a bloody mouth, and charged at Nagy before teammates grabbed her.

At the time, Long Beach had just pulled ahead in what had been a tight game before 1,851 at the Pyramid.

Rizzotti, in fact, returned to the game--with a stitch in her mouth--to give New England a 55-54 lead with two free throws with 5:56 to play.

Then Lacy made two consecutive 15-foot jump shots within 31 seconds and Long Beach went ahead for good, 58-55. Nagy made a three-point basket and then made a great assist to Griffith for a 63-58 lead.

Another factor at the finish was a toughened Long Beach defense on the league’s leading scorer, Carolyn Jones. Until the final four minutes, she threatened to overhaul Long Beach by herself, on four-for-five three-point shooting.

She finished with a game-high 28 points, despite the best defensive efforts of Beverly Williams and Niesa Johnson.

Griffith led the StingRays with 25 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.

Nagy, who had 13 assists Sunday in the victory over Atlanta, had 11 Tuesday, four in the final quarter.

“I thought Andrea got control of the team when she had to, calmed everyone down and made everyone play tough at the end,” Coach Maura McHugh said.

“They were double and triple-teaming Yolanda low, so we got Venus on the high post and she can make that jump shot.”

Nagy: “That was a good final five minutes for us . . . we needed that for the confidence it gave us, that we can play that well when we have to.”

Around the ABL

If the StingRays open the ABL’s first playoff round Feb. 21 at home--as they would if the foe is Colorado--the likely site is the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim. The Pyramid isn’t available that night. . . . Long Beach could have its biggest Pyramid crowd of the season Sunday against Natalie Williams and the Portland Power. . . .

In other games Tuesday night:

Player-Coach Teresa Edwards scored an ABL-record 31 points in the second half, including nine in the final minute, as the visiting Atlanta Glory (15-23) rallied from an 18-point deficit for a 94-89 victory over the Colorado Xplosion (18-21) before 2,367. Edwards finished with 37 points. . . . Astou Ndiaye scored a game-high 26 points as the Seattle Reign (12-26) built a 13-point first-half lead before going on to a 74-64 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Rage (12-26) before 3,129.