Carla Leite recorded 27 points and 11 assists while leading the Portland Fire to a 97-83 victory over the visiting Toronto Tempo in a battle of expansion franchises on Thursday.
Megan DiLeo (formerly Gustafson) added 17 points as Portland (12-19) held off a late charge to halt a five-game losing streak. Bridget Carleton contributed 10 points and 11 rebounds and Frieda Buhner added 10 points off the Fire bench.
Nyara Sabally scored 17 points and Laura Juskaite added 12 points for Toronto (10-21), which has dropped eight consecutive contests and 12 of its past 13.
Julie Allemand had 11 points and 12 assists and reserve Aneesah Morrow put up 11 points in her second game with the Tempo. Star Marina Mabrey once again played through a neck injury but had just nine points in 22 minutes.
Portland shot 50% from the field, including 11 of 27 (40.7%) from 3-point range, while improving to 2-0 against the Tempo this season. Leite sank 15 of 17 free-throw attempts.
Toronto made 40.3% of its attempts from the floor and was 9 of 31 (29%) from behind the arc.
The Tempo trailed by 23 before Sabally scored six points to start a 13-0 push that cut the Fire’s lead to 89-79. Allemand capped the burst by sinking a 3-pointer with 3:52 remaining.
Morrow’s putback brought Toronto within 91-83 with 3:08 left.
DiLeo answered with a hook shot with 2:43 left for Portland’s first field goal in 4 minutes, 39 seconds. She converted a layup 65 seconds later to give the Fire a 12-point edge en route to sealing the victory.
Leite buried a 3-pointer with just over a second left in the first half to give Portland a 51-37 lead. Leite scored a game-high 11 points in the half.
The Fire started the third quarter with seven straight points to hold a 58-37 edge after Leite’s two free throws.
Mabrey connected on a 3-pointer to bring Toronto within 60-45 with 7:06 left in the third before Portland scored 19 of the next 26 points. Karlie Samuelson’s 3-pointer completed the run and gave the Fire a 27-point lead with 1:26 remaining.
Portland took an 81-59 advantage into the final quarter.
–Field Level Media
