Columbus quest repeat as American basketball league champions

Jet, March 30, 1998

In the second year of the American Basketball League (ABL), the Columbus Quest repeated as league champions by defeating the Long Beach StingRays three games to two in the best of five series.

After losing the first two games of the series in Long Beach, CA, the reigning champs rebounded and rejuvenated to win the next three battles on its home court in Columbus, OH.

In Game 1 Long Beach held on to defeat the defending champs 65-62. In Game 2, the StingRays won again by a 10-point margin 71-61. Columbus came roaring back in Game 3 to win 70-61. The Quest tied the series in Game 4 with a 68-53 victory. The team sealed the championship in Game 5 by a score of 86-81.

Valerie Still, who led the Quest with 25 points in the fifth game, was named series MVP for the second time.

"You can't go out better than this," said Still, who plans to retire.

"I've been thinking about it lately, and I didn't want to make a decision before tonight," she told USA Today after the game. "It's time for me to let it go. When you have a second championship, you can't go out better than that."

In what was most likely her final professional basketball game, Still had her best game of the series. In addition to her 25 points, she had six rebounds and four steals.

The 36-year-old mother played for 12 years in Italy before she retired. She had just given birth to a son Aaron when she got a call about the ABL.

Katie Smith added 19 points, Sonja Tate 15 and Tonya Edwards 12 for the Quest.

Long Beach, which is this year's expansion team, got a game-high 36 points from Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil, an ABL playoff record. Beverly Williams had 13 points and Yolanda Griffith added 10 for the StingRays.

"We fought hard, but the flip side is someone had to lose," Davis-Wrightsil said in the paper. "We played hard and gave it everything that we got. Even though we lost the game, we left it on the floor. That's life, and we just have to move forward."

Still added: "This series was really competitive. No one knew who was going to win until the last game."