NEW YORK (AP) — Sarah Ashlee Barker scored all seven of her points in a fourth quarter run to lift the Portland Fire to an 81-74 win over the New York Liberty on Monday night.
Trailing 65-60, midway through the fourth quarter, Portland (4-3) scored 12 straight points with Barker leading the way to go up 72-65. She hit a layup and then a 3-pointer that made it 67-65 — Portland’s first lead since early in the third quarter.
New York, which was missing star guard Sabrina Ionescu, could only get within 74-71 on two free throws by Breanna Stewart with just over 29 seconds left.
Carla Leite answered with a 3-pointer with 13.7 seconds left to put the Fire up six. She finished with 18 points to lead the team. New York never could get within striking distance the rest of the way.
The loss was the third straight for New York (3-4), which was led by Stewart’s 25 points.
VALKYRIES 97, SUN 70
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Gabby Williams scored 15 points, Kaila Charles added 12 points and seven rebounds, and Golden State ran away from Connecticut for a win.
Williams made 4 of her first 6 shots and wound up 6 for 10 with three 3-pointers as the Valkyries (4-2) jumped out to a 17-11 lead and kept building it against the cold-shooting Sun. Veronica Burton added 11 points and six assists.
Aneesah Morrow came off the bench to contribute 11 points and 10 rebounds for Connecticut (1-7), which is four games into a season-long five-game road trip. Second-year guard Hailey Van Lith, in her first season with the team, went 2 for 7 from the floor and Saniya Rivers missed all eight of her shots.
Sun center Olivia Nelson-Ododa returned from a four-game absence with a right ankle injury and had a minutes restriction of 12.
Kayla Thornton grabbed eight rebounds for Golden State, which led by 17 at halftime. The Valkyries welcomed back Cecilia Zandalasini after she was sidelined for four games dealing with a concussion, and the forward had six points in nearly 14 minutes.