Carla Leite scored 20 points and the Portland Fire dominated the fourth quarter to post a 71-61 victory over the visiting Connecticut Sun on Wednesday night.
Bridget Carleton added 13 points and seven rebounds as Portland (5-3) won its third straight game. Megan Gustafson had 10 points for the Fire, who broke the game open with an 18-2 run to continue their strong play in their first WNBA season.
Aneesah Morrow recorded 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Sun (1-8), who went 1-4 on a five-game road trip. Connecticut lost twice in Portland during the excursion, including 83-82 on May 18.
Connecticut’s Brittney Griner missed her fourth straight game due to a rib injury.
Portland shot 46.2% from the field, including 7-of-22 from 3-point range (31.8%).
The Sun were a dismal 1-of-21 from behind the arc (4.8%) while shooting 38.7% overall.
Charlisse Leger-Walker added 11 points for Connecticut.
The contest was tied at 50 entering the fourth quarter but the Sun scored the first five points of the period and led 55-50 after a three-point play by Hailey Van Lith.
The Fire responded with 10 straight points to start the decisive surge. Frieda Buhner scored consecutive baskets to give Portland a 58-55 lead with 4:25 left and Carleton ended the 10-0 burst with a short turnaround with 3:36 remaining.
Saniya Rivers ended the run with a basket for the Sun, but Leite and Buhner both canned 3-pointers during a stretch of 22 seconds as the Fire opened up a 66-57 lead with 1:32 to play.
Leite added two free throws 24 seconds later to end the run and boost the lead to 11 as the expansion Fire joined the Minnesota Lynx as the only teams with five victories.
Connecticut trailed by 10 at halftime but used a 16-4 burst in the third quarter to take the lead.
Diamond Miller’s steal and layup brought the Sun within one and Morrow added a layup to give Connecticut a 44-43 lead with 5:12 left in the quarter. Raegan Beers’ basket capped the run and gave the Sun a 48-45 edge with 2:06 remaining.
Portland scored the next four points with Carla Leite’s floater providing a one-point lead with 1:04 left.
Portland led 37-27 at halftime behind 11 points from Carleton. Morrow had eight points and 10 rebounds in the half for the Sun, who were 0-for-13 from 3-point range.
–Field Level Media
