StingRays Eventually Make Contest Official

Ever wonder what would happen if they held a basketball game and the officiating crew didn’t show up?

For a while Wednesday night, it looked as if the StingRays and the Portland Power would find out.

When a crew hadn’t shown up by 7:15 p.m., 15 minutes before the scheduled start, StingRay General Manager Bill McGillis started calling ABL officials.

Eventually, two were found--Mary Ann Karp, who lives in the Long Beach area, and Chuck Gonzales, who came to watch--the game was played and Long Beach, in a game delayed 50 minutes, beat Portland, 84-73, before 1,261 at the Pyramid.

“In 26 years of coaching, I’ve never had a crew not show up,” said Portland Coach Lin Dunn, who grudgingly agreed to use the emergency two-man officiating crew instead of the usual threesome. “I’ve seen them show up late because of snow, but never not at all.”

One spectator annoyed at the delay was UCLA point guard Erica Gomez, who attended with teammate Maylana Martin.

“I didn’t spend an hour and 15 minutes on the freeway not to see a game,” Gomez groused.

Then Gonzales walked in the door . . . and the game was on.

Long Beach (10-8) won its second straight and slumping Western Conference leader Portland (12-7) lost its third straight.

Long Beach clung to a 72-69 lead before breaking the game open with a 7-1 run. Beverly Williams made a 14-foot jump shot with 1:48 to play, then Cass Bauer scored underneath with 57 seconds left, was fouled and made the free throw.

Dunn was assessed a technical and Dunn made two free throws to put the game out of reach.

Yolanda Griffith led Long Beach with 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Natalie Williams had 27 points and 12 rebounds for Portland.

StingRay Notes

Seven of the StingRays’ next 10 games are at home. Long Beach next plays on Dec. 12 against the Xplosion in Denver.