PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Megan Gustafson had 22 points and the Portland Fire held Indiana’s Caitlin Clark to six points in a 100-84 victory over the Fever on Saturday night.
Carla Leite had 18 points and 12 assists, while Emily Engstler had 16 points and 10 rebounds, the first double-doubles for the expansion Fire. Portland has won four of its last five games.
Aliyah Boston led the Fever with 18 points and seven rebounds. Clark played for 22 minutes, going 1 for 7 from the field with two rebounds, six assists. She got into foul trouble, collecting her fourth in the third quarter, and finished with five.
The Fever were coming off a 90-88 loss at the Golden State Valkyries on Thursday night.
The Fire jumped out to a 29-15 lead after the first quarter after a layup from Gustafson, who led all players with eight points in the quarter.
Portland’s dominance continued in the second quarter, with Sarah Ashlee Barker’s 3-pointer putting the Fire up 44-26 with four minutes to go before the half.
After leading 50-37 at the break. the Fire stretched the lead to 25 points in the third quarter. Barker capped the period with another 3-pointer that put the crowd at the Moda Center on its feet.
With the Fire up 98-79 in the fourth quarter, coach Alex Sarama sat most of his starters.
TEMPO 93, STORM 72
TORONTO (AP) — Marina Mabrey scored 18 points, rookie Kiki Rice scored 13 of her 17 in the second half and added a season-high four steals, and Toronto beat Seattle.
Brittney Sykes, who finished last season with the Storm, had 15 points against her former team and rookie Laura Juskaite scored 14, which included a career-high four 3-pointers, for the Tempo (5-4). Maria Conde added 13 points, the rookie’s second consecutive game scoring in double figures.
Toronto set an WNBA record when the Tempo made their first 31 free throws before Teonni Key missed back-to-back foul shots with 58 seconds left and they finished 31 of 33 (94%).
Katie Lou Samuelson made a short turn-around jumper that tied it at 51-all with 3:50 left in the third quarter, but the Storm committed turnovers on their next three possessions as Toronto sparked a 19-5 run over the next three-plus minutes.
Natisha Hiedeman scored 18 points and Jordan Horston added a season-high 15 for Seattle.
The Storm hit 7 of 27 (26%) from 3-point range and attempted only eight free throws, making seven.
SUNS 84, SPARKS 81
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Aneesah Morrow had 17 points and 14 rebounds, her fourth consecutive game with a double-double, and Connecticut beat Los Angeles at PeoplesBank Arena.
Morrow leads the WNBA with seven double-doubles this season.
Kennedy Burke scored 14 points for the Sun. Leila Lacan, who made her season debut, and Diamond Miller added 12 points apiece.
Connecticut (2-8) had lost three in a row, all by double figures. The Sun tied their season high with 11 steals.
Ariel Atkins and Rae Burrell led the Sparks (4-4) with 16 points apiece, Erica Wheeler scored 13 and Dearica Hamby 11. Ogwumike finished with 12 points and three rebounds.
Wheeler made a layup 27 seconds into the fourth quarter and the Sparks didn’t make another field goal until she made another layup with 3:38 to play. Nneka Ogwumike followed with a three-point play and Atkins hit two free throws to make it a three-point game less than a minute later.
Burrell’s 3-pointer made it 81-79 with 52 seconds lefts, but the Sparks got no closer.
Ogwumike has 3,315 career rebounds to move into a tie with Tamika Catchings for fifth on the WNBA’s career list.
