StingRays Have Eyes on Prize

Go figure.

The Long Beach StingRays, all but scorned by the Southland basketball community for most of their first season, and beaten soundly four times by the defending champion Columbus Quest, are one win away from the ABL championship.

Long Beach beat them Monday night for the second straight day, this time 71-61, before 3,856 at the Pyramid, and needs one more victory in three possible games at Columbus--beginning Wednesday--to win it all.

The StingRays wanted to talk a lot about it afterward, but it was hard. Yolanda Griffith, the first to come down with a cold a week ago, has given it to nearly everyone on the team, including the coach.

A leading symptom: Hoarseness.

But she did want to say this, when asked about Long Beach’s chances now:

“I know one thing--Columbus isn’t laughing at us anymore,” she said.

In a game that was at times brutally physical, with players crashing to the floor throughout and tempers close to breaking on both sides, Long Beach held together longer than Columbus did.

Quest Coach Brian Agler conceded with 1:53 left and Long Beach ahead, 69-57, pulling his starters.

In the last regular-season meeting between the teams, in Columbus Feb. 15, Quest players were laughing and talking at the end of a 111-80 win, the fourth straight over Long Beach.

But it’s a distant memory for the Quest, which was held Monday to its lowest point total of the season.

And whatever became of Katie Smith?

The 5-foot-9 powerhouse guard who’s already made the 2000 Olympic team got Griffith out of her hair Monday but still had a another nightmare game.

Smith was four for 15 Sunday with Griffith hounding her, and Sunday was one for nine and had a season-low four points.

Explained Long Beach Coach Maura McHugh, also battling a sore throat and cold:

“I felt it was asking too much of Yolanda, to guard Katie two nights in a row. Basically, we had Bev [Beverly Williams], Clo [Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil], Niesa [Johnson] on Katie, and Yo for a little bit.”

Columbus seemed on its way to evening the best-of-five series at 1-1. The Quest, with a 35-29 halftime lead, had it up to 41-31 early in the third quarter when 5-6 Dana Wilkerson came off the bench to ignite a 10-0 run that allowed the StingRays to take a 47-43 lead into the last quarter.

Wilkerson started the run with a three-point basket, then contributed an assist and a steal.

After a Shannon Johnson drive two minutes into the third quarter, Columbus had only one more field goal in the period, another Johnson layup.

Long Beach’s tough, physical defensive play held Columbus to three scoreless stretches of roughly two minutes each in the last quarter. The StingRays had a 71-57 lead with 1:52 remaining.

The ABL championship . . . is it do-able?

McHugh: “Yes, it’s within reach now. It was so important to win this game tonight.”

But there’s this: Columbus has never lost three straight games.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

ABL FINALS

Columbus vs. StingRays

Best of five

Long Beach leads series 2-0

* Sunday: Long Beach 65, Columbus 62

* Monday: Long Beach 71, Columbus 61

* Wednesday: at Columbus, 4

* Friday: at Columbus, 4*

* Sunday: at Columbus, 4*

*--if necessary