The Portland Fire disappeared in the second quarter and chased the game the rest of the way in a 95-77 road loss to the Golden State Valkyries on Tuesday night.
After a first period that saw a pair of lead changes and the teams battling within a bucket of each other most of the way, Portland came out flat in the second and never fully recovered.
Golden State set the tone early when Janelle Salaun pulled down a pair of offensive rebounds that turned initial misses into 3-pointers for the Valkyries. She then stepped behind the arc herself and buried a triple, followed by converting a traditional three-point play in the lane on the next trip down the floor. That floor boosted the Valkyries to an eight-point lead, and it would only grow.
“The game went away from us in that second quarter — giving up offensive rebounds really hurt us in that first half,” Portland coach Alex Sarama said.
Golden State sank eight triples in the quarter, and a Veronica Burton layup with two ticks left sent Golden State to the locker room in command with a 56-36 lead.
Megan Gustafson topped the Fire in scoring with 13 points.
Portland (6-5) returns home to face Phoenix (2-8) at 7 p.m. Friday.