Columbus Relishes Opportunity To Win Out In Abl Finals

There is no place the Columbus Quest would rather be.

They have won their last 23 games at Battelle Hall, and another two would suit them just fine, giving them their second straight ABL championship.

They trail the Long Beach StingRays 2-1 in the best-of-5 series, with Game 4 tonight.

Long Beach has shown it can play tough on the road. A month ago, the StingRays lost by 31 points at Columbus, giving up an ABL-record 111 points.

On Wednesday night, in their return to Battelle Hall, they nearly completed a sweep of the defending champions.

“We didn’t make shots and we turned the ball over,” Long Beach coach Maura McHugh said. “We were pretty fortunate to be in it with two minutes to go.”

In Game 4, the Quest needed two clutch baskets by Tonya Edwards down the stretch and four free throws in the final minute by Andrea Lloyd to stay alive.

Columbus was a league-best 36-8 during the season. Long Beach went 26-18 but is playing a whole lot better now. The StingRays won five straight playoff games - beating Columbus 65-62 and 71-61 at home in the first two games - before coming up short.

“They are a great, great team,” Quest coach Brian Agler said.