Griffith Dominates As Stingrays Win

ABL

Yolanda Griffith had 27 points and 20 rebounds as the Long Beach StingRays held off the Colorado Xplosion 76-64 Saturday night in an American Basket ball League game in Denver.

Long Beach, which made its ABL debut Friday night with a 98-91 home victory over San Jose, led 62-44 with 6:38 to play, but the Xplosion used a 10-0 run to pull within eight with 4:40 remaining.

Griffith, two off the ABL record for rebounds in a game, hit a short jumper and added two free throws as the StingRays countered with an 8-0 run.

Tari Phillips led the Xplosion with 18 points and 18 rebounds.

Notes

No one’s talking buyout or merger yet, but the first bit of commerce between the WNBA and the ABL might involve Jerry Buss, owner of the Lakers and Sparks. According to Johnny Buss, president of the Sparks and Jerry’s son, the senior Buss is intrigued by the idea of renting the Forum to the StingRays, after his Lakers move into the proposed new downtown Los Angeles arena.

Commented ABL chief Gary Cavalli, “We’re committed to Long Beach and the Pyramid. But I’d have a cup of coffee with (Buss) about it.”

Stingrays 76, Xplosion 64

Long Beach (76) - Davis-Wrightsil 6-13‘0-0‘14, Griffith 12-23‘3-4‘27, Bauer 1-3‘3-4‘5, Williams 7-13‘0-0‘14, Nagy 0-3‘2-2‘2, Wilkerson 0-3‘0-0‘0, Stafford 4-9‘2-4‘10, McCrimmon 2-8‘0-0‘4, Lacey 0-7‘0-0‘0. Totals 32-82‘10-14‘76.

Colorado (64) - Hall 6-13‘0-2‘14, Robinson 4-8‘2-4‘13, Phillips 7-14‘4-9‘18, Black 2-6‘2-2‘6, Campbell 3-11‘2-2‘8, Crawley 1-4‘2-2‘4, Wynne 0-1‘1-2‘1, Anderson 0-4‘0-1‘0, Sheetz 0-3‘0-0‘0, Howard 0-2‘0-0‘0. Totals 23-66‘13-24‘64.

Halftime-Long Beach 32, Colorado 27. 3-Point goals-Long Beach 2-7 (Davis-Wrightsil 2-3, Nagy 0-1, McCrimmon 0-1, William 0-2), Colorado 5-15 (Robinson 3-5, Hall 2-4, Phillips 0-1, Black 0-1, Sheetz 0-2, Campbell 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Long Beach 60 (Griffith 20), Colorado 44 (Phillips 18). Assists-Long Beach 16 (McCrimmon 6), Colorado 15 (Black 9). Total fouls-Long Beach 24, Colorado 17. A-4,257.