It’s Not Quite as Easy as 1-2-3 for StingRays

New team, new season, new effort . . . same result.

That’s how Long Beach Coach Maura McHugh described a 70-61 loss to Columbus that prevented a championship celebration on Wednesday night, when asked to compare it to the StingRays’ last visit, Feb. 15, when the Quest pinned a 111-80 loss on her team.

“The difference was in that game we got blown out in the first quarter,” she said.

“This time, we also got blown out in the first quarter but we fought back and were two points down in the final quarter. That’s the difference in this team . . . effort, and treating the playoffs like a new season.”

Indeed, Long Beach shot 27.3% from the floor and committed 28 turnovers yet nearly fought all the way back in a game the Quest had stolen in the first quarter.

So the StingRays, still up 2-1 in the best-of-five series, try again Friday night.

McHugh only hopes her players play all of the first quarter Friday. Wednesday, they stopped scoring with 4:16 left in the first period, letting the Quest score the last 13 points of the quarter and posting a 17-6 lead.

The defending ABL champions, winners of 23 in a row at home, maintained that margin until midway through the final quarter, when Long Beach charged back to trail only, 57-55.

At that point, Columbus’ Katie Smith finally found her shooting touch.

After going five for 24 in the first two games, she made a huge 18-foot jumper for 59-55, then a one-motion, no-dribble layup on a great assist pass from Shannon Johnson for 61-55 with 2:42 to go.

Seconds later, she made a free throw for 62-55. It ignited the 4,613 in 6,300-seat Battelle Hall and Columbus cruised after that.

It didn’t help that Long Beach lost low-post standout Venus Lacy for ten minutes. She erupted in a rage over a third-quarter call, McHugh pulled her, then Lacy had to be restrained by teammate Trish Stafford from charging back onto the court after an official.

She left the court and walked behind the stands, where ABL player personnel director Tracey Williams calmed her down. Lacy returned to the game with 5:51 left.

Asked about it later, Lacy said: “Well, I got the team fired up, didn’t I?”

Well, not exactly.

Columbus was ahead, 39-28, when she had her tantrum and 57-49 when she returned.

Lacy has a team-high 13 points for the StingRays. Tonya Edwards and Shannon Johnson had 15 points apiece for the Quest.

Long Beach outrebounded the Quest, 48-40, scored 12 more free throws, and outscored them in the second half, 37-36, but was only 15 for 55 from the floor and gave up too much in the first quarter.

Talking, Columbus Coach Brian Agler said, saved his team from elimination.

“We talked a lot the last two days, about what went wrong in the two games at Long Beach,” he said.

“And we all agreed it was effort. It all starts with effort, everything you do.

“And sure, our crowd helped us a lot. Long Beach had tremendous crowd support and so did we tonight. That’s what basketball’s all about--atmosphere.”

ABL Notes

Long Beach, 30 for 36 from the free-throw line Wednesday, is shooting 82% on free throws in the playoffs. . . . Andrea Lloyd, 32-year-old Columbus forward and a member of the 34-0 1986 Texas team with Long Beach’s Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil and Beverly Williams, is retiring after the series to become an agent. . . . Philadelphia guard Dawn Staley was at Wednesday’s game and sources said she’s close to re-signing with the ABL. . . . Georgeann Wells, still the only woman to dunk in an NCAA game (she did it three times, for West Virginia), and one of the last premier U.S. women still playing overseas, is also negotiating an ABL deal. She is 6 feet 7.

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Columbus vs. StingRays

Best of five

Long Beach leads series, 2-1

* Sunday: Long Beach 65, Columbus 62

* Monday: Long Beach 71, Columbus 61

* Wednesday: Columbus 70, Long Beach 61

* Friday: at Columbus, 4 p.m.

* Sunday: at Columbus, 4 p.m.*

*--if necessary