Women's Basketball: ABL

It's a tough call in the Western semifinals

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By Clay Kallam
Publisher

The StingRays have to break the pattern.

In their first-round playoff series against Colorado, Long Beach rolled to easy wins at home and got thumped on the road -- which was fine, since the StingRays had the homecourt advantage. Against Portland, though, the only home game for Long Beach is Friday, and the final two games of the best-of-three series are in Portland Sunday and Tuesday.

The first-round series also had bad news in the performance of Colorado's Tari Phillips, who averaged 19 points and 10.3 rebounds a game. Natalie Williams plays a lot like Phillips, only better, and only once all year did she have less than 20 points against Long Beach. That game, the first meeting between the two teams, she had 18, but in her last two games she averaged 24 points and 17.5 rebounds.

On the positive side for Long Beach, an expansion team this year, Yolanda Griffith and Beverly Williams are coming off strong series against Colorado. Of course, that's pretty much expected of the veteran pair, though Williams' shooting percentage of 64.5% is high even by her standards. Obviously, both will have to continue playing well, but what seems to be more important is that the team will have to upgrade its road warrior mentality. Losing by 20 to Colorado in Denver takes some of the shine off the 24- and 29-point homecourt wins -- and also puts a lot of pressure on the StingRays to win Friday night in Long Beach.

The final game blowout was helpful, though, because Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil got to rest her balky knees, playing just 18 minutes, and Venus Lacy was only on the floor for 25 minutes. Portland hasn't played since Feb. 17, which means the Power is well-rested -- though it could also mean that they are a bit rusty.

One thing we can expect, though, is a series of close games. The teams played seven times and two went into overtime. Portland won four, but the largest margin of victory was nine points. At the other end of the spectrum, there were two two-point games and one one-pointer, and you really can't get much closer than that.

Given all the uncertainty, we'll try breaking down the teams position by position to see if that helps.

POINT GUARD: Long Beach point Andrea Nagy is the most improved player in the league, and she wound up third in the league in assists. She also hit 40.7% of her threes and played tough defense. Portland started the season with Falisha Wright at the point, but when she was hurt Molly Goodenbour stepped in and played the best stretch of her pro career. Her assist/turnover ratio was a not-so-hot 81/99 but she did hit 40.8% of her threes. Still, Nagy is one of the best point guards in pro basketball and Goodenbour couldn't beat out Wright at the start of the season. Big edge to Long Beach.

SHOOTING GUARD: The stats say Portland's Elaine Powell is the better player. The rookie out of LSU averaged 12.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists a game this year, and hit 38.3% of her threes. She had a lot of turnovers (147), but a lot of assists (164). She's also very athletic and made some big shots for the Power. Beverly Williams, though, is a veteran who has been through the wars overseas. At 32, she knows what to do and when to do it -- and she did average 11.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists. She didn't match Powell in steals or in assist/turnover ratio, but she's very strong, a great athlete and a tough defender. Head-to-head, Powell outplayed Williams in the seven regular season games, but the playoffs are where a veteran could be expected to step it up a bit. Williams will, but Portland still gets the nod here.

SMALL FORWARD: This matchup is a lot like the previous one. Lisa Harrison is younger and a better ballhandler than Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil, but Davis-Wrightsil has all that experience. She also scores four more points a game, and gets to the line more -- and in the last matchup, she had 23 points to just eight for Harrison, in 10 fewer minutes. We like experience, and Harrison can't create her own shot the way Davis-Wrightsil can. Edge to Long Beach.

POWER FORWARD: Delisha Milton is a nice rookie. She got 8.6 points and 4.9 boards per game, had a fair amount of steals and passed pretty well. She even shot 50% from the field. But the Portland power forward is simply no match for Yolanda Griffith. Griffith led the league in steals, was second in blocked shots, scored 18.8 points a game and grabbed 11.2 rebounds for good measure. If Natalie Williams isn't in the league, Griffith is the MVP. Huge edge to Long Beach.

CENTER: Venus Lacy is an Olympic veteran. She got 10.2 points and 6.5 rebounds a game. She knows how to play defense and how to use her size. She even shot 49.6% from the field. But the Long Beach center is simply no match for Natalie Williams, who led the league in scoring and rebounding. Williams is a force of nature, and this is a huge edge for Portland.

BENCH: Neither team is exactly loaded with reserves. Niesa Johnson is a solid backcourt player for Long Beach and Trisha Stafford come deliver some instant offense -- though not a lot of defense. Cass Bauer is big and can score in bunches, or disappear. For Portland, Wright is ready to step back in at point, and Katy Steding (who has never matched her pre-Olympic form) is a good backup for Harrison. After that, though, it drops off quickly. Sylvia Crawley will neither dunk nor wear a blindfold so she won't be much of a factor. This game will be decided by the starters, so let's just call this even.

COACH: Maura McHugh had been out of basketball for four years before she took over Long Beach this fall, but the layoff, as they say, didn't hurt her a bit. She molded a veteran team into a cohesive and smooth unit that was undaunted by lack of attention in Los Angeles or the reputations of the people they played. Lin Dunn turned around the Power at the end of last year, and Portland kept on rolling in her first full season. But the Power was just 10-9 down the stretch, so some of her magic may be wearing off. Still, she's done a great job in Portland, which is pretty much what McHugh is doing in Long Beach. Call it even again.

The total is 3-2-2 in favor of Long Beach, plus big edges in two categories to only one big edge for Portland. Then again, we do have the home court advantage, as Portland was 16-6 in Oregon and Long Beach was just 11-11 on the road. But even though Portland won two of three at home, the StingRays still outscored the Power at Memorial Coliseum. It says here they will do so again, stealing one road win and moving on to the finals.

2/26/98