Nagy, Stafford Find New Life With StingRays

It was fitting that Andrea Nagy and Trisha Stafford executed the winning play as the clock ran down on the Long Beach StingRays’ most significant and arguably best-played victory of the season Sunday.

Both were ABL rejects at the end of last season, sent packing by other teams.

These two are major reasons the StingRays have won three in a row, seven of nine and are seemingly bent on overhauling conference leader Portland.

Long Beach, having beaten the Power 24 hours earlier at Portland, had the ball with 27 seconds to go Sunday at the Pyramid, but trailed by a point.

After walking the ball up the court, Nagy broke left and cut down the lane into traffic. There, she snapped off a pass to Stafford, who drove into the paint and made a layup with five seconds left.

The Power wound up with a decent shot at the final horn, a baseline jumper by Falisha Wright. But it was blocked by another ABL reject, Niesa Johnson, sent by Atlanta to Long Beach in a trade.

Nagy, who had nine assists Saturday and five Sunday, has gone from near-last to near-best among ABL point guards. A year ago, Nagy sat and watched Kate Paye play the point at Seattle. Given her release, she came to Long Beach as a free agent tryout player.

She not only made the team but has started since opening day. In fact, her teammates are grousing she didn’t make the Jan. 18 All-Star game along with Yolanda Griffith and Beverly Williams.

Nagy, 26, led the nation in assists two consecutive seasons at Florida International University. She is third in the ABL in assists at 6.3 a game and fourth in three-point shooting at 43%.

Stafford, 27, arguably the best sixth woman in the league, has taken this route to Long Beach: Westchester High, Cal, Spain, Italy, Israel, Brazil and San Jose.

“Trisha has a way of coming off the bench and making big plays immediately,” Coach Maura McHugh said. “She’s playing high quality minutes, in part because she’s a great passer, inside or outside.”

McHugh said on Sunday’s winning play, called “one-four-low,” Nagy had the option of driving for a layup or hitting either forward with a pass to the baseline.

“Elaine Powell was guarding me and I jumped away from her and got open,” Stafford said. “Meanwhile, Venus (Lacy) screened out Natalie (Williams).”

Like Nagy, Stafford mostly sat and watched last season. When San Jose Laser guard Jennifer Azzi had shoulder surgery, Stafford started 18 games.

“There were problems with the coach there [Jan Lowrey, since fired], and I wanted out,” Stafford said.

“Since I’m from down here, the league agreed I could go to Long Beach.”

She’s happy with her first-off-the-bench role, but would be happier starting.

“My Mom taught me to shoot for the stars, so that if you only hit the top of the tree, you’re still better off,” she said.

Women’s Basketball Notes

Here’s a list of probable entrants in the ABL’s dunk contest during All-Star weekend at Orlando: Sylvia Crawley (Colorado), Kara Wolters and Shanda Berry (New England), Yolanda Griffith (Long Beach), Sheila Frost (Portland) and Linda Godby (Seattle). . . . Candidates for a 10th ABL team next season are Long Island, Dallas, Chicago and Nashville, according to ABL chief Gary Cavalli, who said Long Island is the leading candidate. . . . Cavalli said he’s concerned about Long Beach’s low attendance but that he’s hopeful “four or five” new marketing programs will work. “Sure, we’re concerned,” he said. “But we still believe Long Beach is a good market for us. If at the end of the season nothing has worked, then we’ll take another look at it.” The team is averaging an ABL-worst 1,894 a game, more than 1,000 less than next-worst Columbus.