The Portland Fire survived a late comeback attempt to earn an 84-82 win over the Seattle Storm on Friday night to complete the 4-0 season sweep. A buzzer-beater attempt for Seattle was just off the mark, allowing Portland to hold on to their lead.
Holly Winterburn led the way for the Fire, scoring a career-high 20 points, destroying her previous career-high of 6. Carla Leite, Bridget Carleton and Megan DiLeo finished with 14 points each.
The Storm were led by Awa Fam’s 20 points off the bench. Ezi
Magbegor was second on the team with 13 points in the contest.
Here are some key takeaways from the game.
Holly Winterburn
Winterburn came off the bench about halfway through the first quarter with the score 10-9 in favor of Portland. She caught fire immediately, going on a personal 16-7 run over the final five minutes of the quarter. She was all over the floor on the offensive end, getting to the basket with ease to provide a major spark off the bench. Her 16 points in the quarter tied the Storm’s total.
Winterburn scored just four more points throughout the rest of the game, but her impact was more than felt already. It was an incredible performance for the rookie who has just recently found herself breaking into the normal rotation.
Late Runs
Portland held a 16-point lead in the second half and seemed like they might be gearing up to pull away and take control of the game. They weren’t able to close out Seattle who leveraged a pair of large runs—a 9-0 run in the third quarter and 14-4 run in the fourth—to bring the lead all the way down.
A couple of uncharacteristic missed free throws from Leite in the final minute of the game gave the Storm a chance to win on a three, but it missed. The Fire survived the late push, but just barely. They struggled to score down the stretch and Seattle took advantage of that. The early lead was enough to hold on, but the late-game execution was a serious problem.
Turnovers Leading To Points
Portland turned the ball over 15 times in the game. Seattle had 12 turnovers of their own. The main difference was the points as a result. The 12 Storm turnovers led to just 12 points on the other end for the Fire, but Portland conceded 28 points off of their own turnovers. In a game where Seattle shot just 33.3% from the field, the amount of easy baskets off of turnovers was a major factor in them being able to challenge for the win.
Turnovers have been an issue all season for the Fire and tonight was no exception. But being able to win ugly games is an important part of building team success going forward. It wasn’t a pretty win, but it’s a win at the end of the day.
Up Next
The Fire head out on the road to take on the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday, August 16th at 4:00 p.m. PST.
