The Portland Fire got put away early in an 82-66 loss to the Golden State Valkyries on Friday night at the Moda Center. After taking a 20-19 lead into the second quarter, the Fire were quickly left in the dust as the Valkyries built a double-digit lead that held throughout the second half.
Portland was led in scoring by Frieda Buhner, who recorded 14 points off the bench. The only other Fire players in double figures were Carla Leite and Nyadiew Puoch, who recorded 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Golden State was led by Kaitlyn Chen and Laeticia Amihere, who both recorded 17 points off the bench. Kayla Thornton and Tiffany Hayes added 13 points each in the starting lineup to support the other lead scorers and help claim the comfortable win.
Here are some key takeaways from the game:
Turnovers, Turnovers And More Turnovers
Portland held a 20-19 lead after the first quarter, despite recording 6 turnovers in the frame. How did they follow that up? With eight turnovers in the second quarter. That number slowed down, but didn’t fully stop in the second half, leaving the Fire with 23 total in the game.
Winning a game with that many turnovers is almost impossible. Much less so when it’s one of the best teams in the WNBA. They were able to limit the points surrendered on those turnovers to just 17, but that many lost possessions makes it very difficult to maintain any sort of offensive momentum.
Poor Shooting Displays
Neither team shot the ball well, with Portland shooting 36.1% from the field and 27.6% from deep. The Valkyries were slightly better, but not much at 42% from the field and 35.1% from three. When both teams are struggling from the field, it can come down to who gets hot at the right times. Despite the poor shooting overall, Golden State was able to put together a few timely runs to build the lead, then make just enough shots to never truly be in danger throughout the contest.
Frieda Buhner
Buhner led the team in scoring in the contest, and was the only Fire player who played heavy minutes and shot above 50% from the field with her 6 makes on 10 attempts. She also added three rebounds, three assists and a steal while only turning the ball over once. She wasn’t exactly an offensive hub, but she was consistently able to get good looks at the basket throughout the game and was able to help chip away at the lead at times before it got pushed out of reach.
Up Next
Box Score
The Fire will play their penultimate game of the season on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. PDT as they travel to Los Angeles to take on the Sparks.
