Trailing by five points, the Portland Fire went on a 12-0 run late in the fourth quarter to stun the host New York Liberty 81-74 on Monday night.
The Fire, who feature balanced scoring, were led by Carla Leite, who had 18 points. Megan Gustafson added 11 points, and Bridget Carleton and Teja Oblak added 10 points each.
New York’s Breanna Stewart had a game-high 25 points to go with seven rebounds. Marine Johannes added 17 points and a game-high six assists, and Jonquel Jones added 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
It was the third straight loss for the Liberty (3-4), who won the WNBA championship in 2024.
Portland, an expansion team, won consecutive games for the first time. The Fire (4-3) also won their season series with New York, 2-1.
The Liberty played without four-time All-Star Sabrina Ionescu, who was rested. She missed the season’s first five games due to a left foot injury, played on Sunday and then got the night off on Monday.
New York is now 0-3 to start a seven-game homestand, which will be its longest all season.
Portland’s Karlie Samuelson, who has been battling an injury to her left foot, made her season debut. She scored two points in 13 minutes off the bench.
The Fire led by as many as seven points in the first quarter but settled for a 19-18 advantage by the end of the frame. Both teams shot 40% in the period.
Neither team got hot in the second quarter as Portland increased its lead slightly to 35-33 at halftime.
Portland missed its first three shots of the second half, allowing New York to surge ahead 39-35. By the end of the third quarter, New York grabbed a 57-49 edge thanks in large part to 10 points from Stewart.
In the fourth quarter, it was Portland’s turn to get back on top as Sarah Ashlee Barker made a 3-pointer to give the Fire a 67-65 lead with 3:36 remaining. That was part of Portland’s 12-0 run.
New York still had a chance, trailing 74-71 with 29.6 seconds remaining after Stewart made two foul shots. However, Leite responded with a 3-pointer with 14.4 seconds left, and that was too much for the Liberty to overcome.
–Field Level Media
