Colorado Pays Back StingRays

It was not a pleasant scene--on the floor or in the seats--Tuesday night for the Long Beach StingRays, brought down to earth by the revenge-minded Colorado Xplosion.

Colorado, beaten by Long Beach in its opener at Denver on Saturday and a loser at Seattle on Sunday night, took command in the final two minutes and beat the StingRays, 82-80, before 1,009 spectators at the Pyramid.

The StingRays several times held five-point leads, including at 70-65, but couldn’t build on them, despite a 54-25 rebounding edge.

Principally responsible for this were Crystal Robinson, who seemed to make a three-point basket whenever her team needed it, going five for seven and finishing with a game-high 24 points; and Dana Wynne, a 6-foot-2 rookie from Seton Hall whose powerful inside offense gave Colorado a huge lift as the fourth quarter unfolded.

Wynne scored underneath on three consecutive possessions, keeping the Xplosion close when Long Beach’s Beverly Williams had given the StingRays a 64-59 lead.

Long Beach’s Yolanda Griffith dominated the boards again, with 14, and she had 23 points.

Long Beach Coach Maura McHugh was angry afterward that her team would not be taking a 3-0 record to San Jose on Friday.

“We gave up too many uncontested shots . . . people were wide open, we never did pick up their wings,” she said.

“No one will roll over and die in this league just because they lost to you before. I told the team that. Then we went out and played like we were in a trance.”

From a 70-65 lead, Long Beach faded rapidly in the last six minutes. Edna Campbell sank an eight-footer, an 18-footer and a three-pointer within a minute for a 72-70 advantage.

Long Beach led, 77-76, on a Griffith free throw, but when Tari Phillips got a rim-riding layup to drop, the Xplosion had the lead for good, 78-77, with 1:37 left.

Andrea Nagy had the last shot for Long Beach, a 12-footer that missed at the buzzer.

Long Beach led for nearly the entire first half, but Robinson made a 12-footer with two seconds to go to give the Xplosion a 44-43 lead at halftime.

The prettiest play of the half was a classic give-and-go, point guard Nagy feeding Griffith from the left side for a 38-34 StingRay lead with 3:05 to go.

The best defensive effort of the game belonged Long Beach, when the StingRays forced Colorado into a shot-clock violation with 26 seconds left in the first half. But Colorado quickly capitalized on a turnover, Robinson scoring.

ABL Notes

The StingRays play at San Jose on Friday night and host Valerie Still and league champion Columbus on Tuesday night. . . . Colorado’s defensive ace, Debbie Black, may only be 5-3, but she has one of the league’s biggest contracts--a three-year deal with two option years, paying her more than $150,000 per year.