Columbus Finishes Quest For Inaugural Abl Crown

Tonya Edwards scored 23 points as the Columbus Quest beat the Richmond Rage 77-64 Tuesday night and won the inaugural American Basketball League championship in five games.

Columbus trailed 2-1 in the best-of-5 series before winning the final three games.

“We won the first championship in Columbus and we’re not going to forget that too soon,” said Valerie Still, who had 14 points and 13 rebounds and was chosen most valuable player.

Shannon Johnson added 15 points, Katie Smith 12 and Nikki McCray 11.

Columbus took a 54-45 lead into the final quarter. Edwards’ five points early in the quarter helped boost the lead to 61-50 with 6:55 remaining.

Still ended a 2:30 scoring drought for both teams with a three-point play that made the score 65-52. Two free throws by Johnson extended the margin to 67-52 with 3:27 left.

A tip-in by Adrienne Goodson with 1:25 remaining pulled Richmond to 73-62. But Johnson sealed the victory with a layup off a steal at midcourt, making the score 75-62 with 1:08 left.

Dawn Staley scored 19 points for Richmond, Taj McWilliams 18, Goodson 15 and Marta Sobral 12.

Six points by Edwards helped Columbus take an 11-4 lead in the first quarter. McWilliams scored five points in a 13-7 run as Richmond pulled to 18-17 with 51 seconds left. Andrea Lloyd’s putback at the buzzer made it 20-17 after one period.

Columbus scored 10 of the first 12 points in the second quarter, including five by Edwards, to take a 30-19 lead.

Columbus was ahead 50-35 after Smith made a jumper with 5:25 to go in the third quarter.