Although they absorbed a 107-74 blowout loss Monday night at Minnesota, the Portland Fire remain in playoff position during their expansion season.
Portland (7-9, 1-5 Commissioner’s Cup) looks to take another step in that direction Wednesday night when it hosts the struggling Seattle Storm (3-12, 0-6) in the first matchup of Pacific Northwest franchises since 2002, when the Fire were last in the league.
The Fire entered Tuesday a game out of the WNBA’s final playoff spot, currently occupied by the Los Angeles Sparks. Portland’s mix of veterans and young players has produced more than some expected.
“We’re a bunch of overlooked players,” center Megan Gustafson said. “I’ve never really been respected as a basketball player until I got here.”
Carla Leite is leading Portland with 13.7 points and 5.3 assists per game, while Bridget Carleton adds 13.1 ppg. Carleton is coming off a rough game against the Lynx, her former team. She was 1 of 9 from the field in 26 minutes and scored three points.
Gustafson is scoring a career-high 11.4 ppg and hitting 57.9% of her field-goal attempts. As a team, the Fire are fifth in the league in 3-point percentage at 34.1%.
Meanwhile, Seattle (3-12) continued its early-season struggles with a reconstituted roster. It dropped its eighth game in a row on Friday night, a 76-72 setback at Golden State despite a game-high 26 points from Natisha Hiedeman.
Offense has been the Storm’s major problem, as they rank last in the league in scoring (76.4 ppg), field goal percentage (40.5%), and assists per game (17.7). Hiedeman is pumping in a career-high 14.7 ppg, the first time in her five-year career that she’s averaging in double figures.
Hiedeman said Seattle hasn’t given up despite its recent skid.
“We don’t ever give up, regardless of the score,” she said. “That’s a good thing about our team. We are full of competitors. We have a lot of fight.”
One positive has been second-year center Dominique Malonga. She is averaging 14 points and 6.3 rebounds in seven games.
–Field Level Media
