Portland Fire Coach Cites What Makes Snapping Losing Streak vs Wings ‘Even Sweeter’
The Portland Fire’s success has been one of the biggest surprises of the season so far. Unlike the Toronto Tempo, the Fire built a roster made up largely of young talent and players with little WNBA experience. Bridget Carleton, Emily Engstler, Megan Gustafson, and Karlie Samuelson are the only players who entered the season with more than one season of WNBA experience under their belts.
Nevertheless, Portland has been able to make some noise early. They beat the New York Liberty in just their second game of the season (and then again later in May) and took down the Indiana Fever in a decisive 100-84 win. Now, they can add the Dallas Wings to the list of playoff teams they beat.
The Fire secured an 84-83 win to end a four-game losing streak as the Wings struggled to score early without Paige Bueckers, who missed the game due to an ankle injury. But even without Bueckers, Dallas is a talented team with a respected coach, and that made the win especially great for Portland.
“Dallas is incredibly well coached,” Fire head coach Alex Sarama said in the postgame media availability, per the team’s YouTube channel. “Really stood out just throughout the game. Actions they run, the intent paired with the pace that they’re playing at, and then, I mean, that was an incredible play they drew up at the end for the and-one…Credit to them. I think Jose [Fernandez] is doing an incredible job with that group, so, you know, makes the win even sweeter tonight.”
The Fire played an efficient offensive game
Sarama has established his team as a defensive menace that tries to force as many turnovers and low-percentage shots as possible. The Wings didn’t turn the ball over a ton and only gave up nine points off turnovers, but they shot just 39% from the field and 25% from three. The Fire, meanwhile, shot 44% from the field and 45% from behind the arc.
Bridget Carleton was the engine that powered the Fire’s efficient scoring night. She went 6-10 from behind the arc on her way to 20 points and a career-high for made 3-pointers in a game.
Megan Gustafson was also big with 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists, and Carla Leite and Emily Engstler made big plays down the stretch to secure the win.
With its seventh win of the season, Portland now sits in tenth place in the standings and just one game behind the Los Angeles Sparks in the final playoff spot. A trip to the postseason is still very much in the cards for the expansion franchise.
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.