Fire Survive Seattle's Rally to Win 84-82

The Portland Fire swept the season series 4-0.

(Seattle, WA) - For the fourth time this season, the Portland Fire (14-20) defeated the Seattle Storm (7-29). Like many of their games, this one was competitive for most of the game. Trailing by 12 points with five minutes to play, Seattle used a furious late-game rally (15-5) to set up the dramatic finale. A three-pointer by Natisha Hiedeman cut the deficit to one with six seconds left in the game. The Storm had a chance to send the game to overtime, but Hiedeman missed her final shot as the buzzer sounded. The Fire escaped with an 84-82 victory and a 4-0 season sweep over the Storm.

Rookie Awa Fam had an excellent game, scoring 20 points on 7-12 FG. She knocked down four three-pointers and pulled down nine rebounds. It was her best performance since moving to the bench at the beginning of the month in a game against New York.

I spoke to Fam about the adjustments she’s had to make since being moved to the bench.

“I think that I need to read the game with the defense, with their offense. Just put my 100%, my energy, doesn’t matter if it’s with the Starting 5, it doesn’t matter to be on the bench, just being on the game, then trying to help my team, and trying to do what I like to do and what I need to do. So that’s an adjustment: read the game, being there, trying to help my team all the time, and that’s it.” Fam told me.

This was a difficult game for Storm’s young All-Star, Dominique Malonga. She still finished with nine points, 12 rebounds, and a career-high five assists, but she really struggled with her offense. Malonga missed several shots near the rim and finished 3-15 FG from the floor.

Jordan Horston finished with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. Ezi Magbegor had her best performance during this injury-riddled season. Ezi finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, and three assists. Jade Melbourne added 12 points and shot 3-5 FG from beyond the arc.

Seattle out-rebounded Portland 45-43 and pulled down 14 offensive boards. That gave them a 16-10 advantage in second-chance points. While the Storm committed 12 turnovers, most of those came in the first half, and Seattle’s defense was able to force Portland into 15 turnovers. They capitalized on those mistakes, outscoring the Fire 28-12 in points off turnovers. They outscored their opponents 46-36 in the second half of the game, but they still came up short.

Awa Fam said in the post-game that they needed to do a better job of playing the full 40 minutes.