Long Beach Opens Semis With Win Over Portland

Yolanda Griffith scored 17 of her 26 points in the second half as the Long Beach StingRays defeated the Portland Power 72-62 Friday night in the opening game of their American Basketball League semifinal series.

Venus Lacy added 18 and Andrea Nagy 13 for Long Beach.

Portland’s Natalie Williams had 25 points, 22 in the first three quarters. Lisa Harrison added 12 and Elaine Powell 11 for the Power.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series will be played Sunday at Portland. A third game, if necessary, would be played Tuesday at Portland.

StingRays 72, Power 62

Portland (62) - Milton 1-3 5-8 7, Harrison 6-11 0-0 12, N.Williams 9-21 7-10 25, Powell 4-13 3-4 11, Goodenbour 2-10 2-2 7, Crawley 0-0 0-0 0, Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Steding 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-60 17-24 62.

Long Beach (72) - Davis-Wrightsil 2-5 1-2 5, Griffith 7-17 12-13 26, Lacy 8-15 2-2 18, B.Williams 2-7 1-2 5, Nagy 3-6 7-7 13, Stafford 0-1 0-0 0, Johnson 1-7 2-2 5, Bauer 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 23-61 25-28 72.

Portland 18 13 12 19 - 62

Long Beach 19 16 19 18 - 72

3-Point goals-Portland 1-10 (Goodenbour 1-5, Steding 0-1, Harrison 0-1, Powell 0-3), Long Beach 1-5 (Johnson 1-3, Williams 0-1, Nagy 0-1). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Portland 37 (N.Williams 9), Long Beach 45 (Griffith 14). Assists-Portland 12 (Goodenbour, Milton 4), Long Beach 16 (Nagy 6). Total fouls- Portland 19, Long Beach 16. A-3,711.