Lasers Break Through Against StingRays, 76-72

The San Jose Lasers caught every break in the final minutes and beat the Long Beach StingRays for the first time in five tries Wednesday night, 76-72.

Long Beach (17-12) is still in second place in the ABL’s Western Conference, behind Portland (19-11), but San Jose (16-15) got a confidence boost and may have gained a psychological edge, assuming the Lasers and StingRays wind up as playoff opponents next month.

The StingRays, before 3,755 at San Jose State’s Event Center, fought back to within three points three times and once to within two in the final four minutes.

With 1:05 left, Venus Lacy (18 points, eight rebounds) scored underneath, bringing Long Beach to within 73-70.

San Jose then got what it wanted on a fastbreak--a match-up of Long Beach’s 5-foot-7 point guard, Andrea Nagy, on streaking 6-5 center Clarisse Machanguana.

Nagy could only foul Machanguana, who then kept the StingRays alive by missing both free throws.

With 53 seconds left, Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil missed a three-pointer. Long Beach got the rebound, but kicked the ball out of bounds. Nagy then fouled San Jose’s Sheri Sam on a drive with 35 seconds to go, and she made one of two foul shots for 74-70.

Lacy got a put-back of a Nagy layup attempt for 74-72 at 24 seconds.

But San Jose point guard Jennifer Azzi (19 points) used up most of the remaining time with the dribble, Nagy in hot pursuit. Nagy finally fouled her, with 10 seconds left.

Azzi, an 87% free-throw shooter, made both.

Long Beach’s Yolanda Griffith--who was two for 12 from the field and had a season-low seven points--indicated a loss to San Jose was tough to take, after going 4-0.

“We needed it . . . but everything went their way at the end,” she said.

“They feel sky high right now, I’m sure . . . but they still know we’re better than they are.”

San Jose’s Sam (16 points) and Charlotte Smith (nine) each surpassed the 1,000-point mark for the season.

ABL Notes

Vicki Hall scored a season-high 22 points to lead the Colorado Xplosion to an 87-75 victory over the Atlanta Glory before 3,177 in Denver. Stacey Lovelace (25 points) and Teresa Edwards (24) led the Glory (11-18), which dressed only seven players because of illness and injuries. Colorado improved to 13-16.