Short-handed Fire’s fourth-quarter rally falls short in narrow loss to Dallas Wings

Late-game magic wasn’t enough to push the Portland Fire (11-16) past the Dallas Wings (18-9) at the Moda Center on Wednesday evening, falling 101-97 in the team’s final action before the all-star break.

The WNBA upstarts head into the break with a 3-7 record over their last 10 games. Head coach Alex Sarama’s postgame press conference was a mixed bag of emotions. On the one hand, the league’s youngest coach says he’s proud of how his team continued to battle their way into games. On the other, no one enjoys losing.

“I just can’t fault the group’s effort and, you know, I feel like a broken record,” Sarama said. “We gave everything we could tonight… In games like this, I feel like it’s the same themes of two weaknesses. It’s defensive rebounding and our containment in one-on-one (matchups).”

‘S-A-B, S-A-B’

Portland stormed out to an 11-3 lead midway through the first quarter before an injury took the wind out of the team’s sails. Sarah Ashlee Barker, the Fire’s starting shooting guard and “heart and soul” of the team, exited Wednesday’s contest four minutes into the first quarter.

Barker made her presence felt on the court in her brief stint, scoring two points, grabbing three rebounds and dishing a pair of assists. After dishing out a pass to teammate Frieda Buhner on the wing, Barker collapsed to the baseline grabbing her left leg.

She did not return, though a 17,206-person crowd gave her an encouraging send-off, chanting “S-A-B, S-A-B” as she was helped off the court. Sarama had no update on Barker’s status postgame.

“It’s a huge blow, just because of what (she) brings as the heart and soul of the group,” Sarama said. “It’s pending evaluation of our performance teams. So as soon as they’re able to get a good look, we’ll know more.”

Barker has been a breakout star for the first-year Fire, averaging 10.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 15 starts this season. She’s a 50% shooter from the field, 40% from behind the arc and, in Sarama’s words, “one of the better point-of-attack defenders” in the sport.

Wings dominate boards to open up perimeter shooting

Dallas went on a 16-4 run to close out the first quarter and led by as many as six points midway through the second.

Though the Wings’ pair of No. 1-overall draft picks — UConn guards Paige Bueckers (21 pts) and Azzi Fudd (11 pts) — ate up the attention from fans (Portland fans were the clear majority, but Bueckers jerseys dotted every section of Moda), Dallas won the game on the glass. The Wings out-rebounded Portland 35-22, including a 9-3 advantage on the offensive boards.

Dallas forward Jessica Shepard dominated the boxscore wire-to-wire, finishing with an 18-point, 15-rebound,10-assist triple-double. Shephard contributed almost half of Dallas’ 35 boards and ran the game like a point guard, finding Bueckers, Fudd and bench guard Arike Ogunbowale (24 pts) for open looks on the perimeter with Portland’s defense collapsing down.

Bueckers, Fudd and Ogunbowale combined to shoot 48% (19-of-39) from the field and 50% (10-of-20) from 3-point depth.

A career-best and a career moment

Playing catch up with the sharpshooting Wings most of the night and suddenly shorthanded, Portland had little margin for error. Forward Frieda Buhner (15 pts) and center Megan DiLeo (21 pts) gave them that much.

It was a career-night for both, with Buhner scoring a career-high on lights-out shooting (83% FG, 100% 3-pt) and DiLeo (formerly Gustafson) playing her first game after her July 18 wedding.

DiLeo went 9-for-13 from the field and 2-for-5 from behind the arc en route to leading the Fire’s scoring effort. In postgame interviews, she said she had “chills” hearing her new last name over the PA system during player introductions for the first time.

“I was just so excited to hear it,” DiLeo said. “I was kind of waiting for it, obviously… It was an amazing (wedding) and pretty special to be able to have ‘DeLio’ on the back of my jersey today.”

As for Buhner, a rookie from Germany playing her first professional season stateside, adjusting to the WNBA’s speed and physicality has been a learning experience.

But Wednesday marked her fourth game out of the last five with multiple made 3-pointers. Buhner is shooting 62.5% (10-for-16) from deep in the stretch.

“A lot of it is also confidence, and I think now finding my rhythm just helps me a lot,” She said. “It’d a bit frustration because, obviously, I’m not really used to it… I don’t know, it’s a lot of little things. Being a little quicker, using more fakes, stuff like that. I’m still working (through) it, obviously, but there is a big difference.”

Late-game comeback

DiLeo, Buhner and starting point guard Bridget Carleton (18 pts) were instrumental in Portland’s late (and near-) heroics.

After wrestling back the lead and heading to halftime with a 42-40 advantage, Portland was outscored by Dallas, 36-27, in the third quarter. Shepard and Ogunbowale overwhelmed the Fire’s defense, with the latter scoring 15 of her 24 points in the third quarter alone.

When the fourth quarter hit, a switch flipped for the Fire. Portland trailed by as many as 12 points with under eight minutes to go and it seemed as though Dallas would run away with the win. Slowly but surely, Portland reeled Dallas in, making it a six-point game, 91-85, after a turnover by Bueckers and a layup by DiLeo with under three minutes to play.

Back-to-back 3s by Bueckers and Fudd gave Dallas a 99-90 lead with less than 90 seconds to play, forcing Portland into a timeout. Whatever Sarama schemed up worked perfectly.

The Fire rattled off seven points in under a minute, making it a 99-97 game with 32 seconds to play as the Portland crowd erupting with cheers. A missed jumper by Bueckers and a timely rebound by Portland’s Carleton put the ball in the Fire’s hand with 10 seconds to play, and Carleton forced her way down the hardwood through a heavy, but foul-free press by the Wings.

Carleton’s penultimate jumper clanked off the iron and a foul with Portland foul with .7 seconds on the clock sent Dallas’ Maddy Siegrist (14 pts) to the line for a pair of meaningless free throws. Siegrest made both, providing the Wings with their triple-digit-breaking points.

All-Star Break

The Fire will be back in action Tuesday, July 28 in Las Vegas, taking on the Las Vegas Aces (18-8) in both squads’ first action after the All-Star Break.

Portland doesn’t have a representative on the All-Star roster in its first year, but Carleton will represent the Fire in the 3-point contest. She was announced as a participant prior to Wednesday’s matchup, earning a round of applause and cheers from the Portland faithful.

Carleton leads the Fire in 3-point attempts this season (6.9 per game) and is shooting 37.4% from behind the arc.

“She’s been working hard to practice… with the racks and the money balls. I think she’s set it up, like, four times over the last week,” Sarama said. “She’s always getting to the right spots offensively, from where we want to initiate our entries.”

The 2026 WNBA 3-Point Contest is scheduled for 5 p.m. (PST) on Friday at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.