The Portland Fire weren’t able to complete their fourth quarter comeback against the Toronto Tempo, falling 82-79 after a buzzer-beater attempt from Emily Engstler fell short of forcing overtime.
Despite the loss, it was a great comeback attempt late in the game for Portland after falling behind by as many as 12 points in the final frame.
The Fire were led in scoring by Bridget Carleton’s 18 points, 10 of which came in the first quarter. Megan DiLeo was second on the team with 14 points of her own.
The Tempo were led by Isabelle Harrison’s 25-point, 10-rebound double-double. Kiki Rice and Laura Juskaite contributed 19 points and 15 points, respectively.
Here are some key takeaways from the game:
First Quarter v. Second Quarter
Portland came out on fire (pun intended!), taking a 16-6 lead early in the game. That push was helped by Carleton’s nine points during that stretch and some hot shooting from three-point range. At the end of the quarter, it was a 24-16 advantage for the Fire, including a scorching five makes on eight attempts from behind the arc.
But the second quarter flipped the script. Portland missed all seven of their shots from deep and allowed Toronto to tie the game with 20 seconds left before heading into halftime. While the Fire were shooting pretty poorly from the field, the main contributor to their blown lead was a 17-7 advantage in attempts from the free throw line in favor of the Tempo. Aggressive defensive tactics led to a lot of fouls called, and a lot of free points for Toronto to catch back up.
Near-Comeback
Down 75-63 with just over 6 minutes to play in the game, time was running out for Portland to make a move. Luckily for them, that chance came. In less than three minutes, the Fire managed to go on a 13-0 run to take the lead late in the game. Strong defense combined with a couple of makes from deep allowed Portland to shoot right back into the game, but a couple of timely misses allowed the Tempo to escape with the win and finally break their 12-game losing streak.
Fouling Shooters
I already mentioned the first half free throw disparity, but that trend continued into the second half as well. The final tally was 33 attempts for Toronto compared to just 17 attempts for the Fire. However, Portland fouled just three more times than the Tempo in the contest. The main issue was fouling shooters, which the Fire did often. It allowed Toronto to withstand dry spells from the field and earn easy points in a game where Portland led for much of the contest.
Aggressive defense is something that the Fire excel at. However, playing that style of defense without fouling? Now that is where there is room for improvement. When it’s working and turnovers are being forced, Portland looks incredible. But all too often does it turn into a parade to the foul line for the opposing team, just like it did tonight.
Up Next
Box Score
The Fire are returning home to take on the Washington Mystics on Sunday, August 23rd at 4pm Pacific.
