Frieda’s Fireworks and Carla’s Late Game Heroics Save the Day
Carla Leite finds Frieda Bühner for three to seal the game late in a 71-61 win over the Connecticut Sun in the Sun’s final game ever in Portland.
The Portland Fire headed back home to The Fire Pit on Wednesday after a successful three-game road trip and provided yet another heart pounding come-from-behind 71-61 victory over the Connecticut Sun for what was their last trip ever to the Moda Center. With the Sun moving to Houston next season and returning to the name the Houston Comets, I wanted to say thank you to the Mohegan Tribe and Connecticut Sun fans everywhere who helped shaped the WNBA into what it is today. The Sun didn’t make their final trip to Portland an easy one for Portland to win. The Fire had to grind their way to this victory behind more Carla Leite clutch moments and Frieda Bühner’s best game of her bright young career.
First Quarter
The Fire started the game hot as they got out to an early 15-8 lead over the Sun mainly due to their suffocating defense. To start the game, the Sun couldn’t get anything going, even shooting under 30% from the field for most of the quarter. That quickly changed when Connecticut closed the gap on an 8-0 run to reclaim the lead. At the end of the first quarter, what seemed to be maybe the Fire’s first blowout, all of a sudden was only a 17-16 lead after one of Bridget Carleton’s signature turnaround midrange jump shots.
However, to close the quarter, the team began looking like a squad fresh off of an east coast road trip and it was clear they were going to have to dig deep to pull out the win. Head Coach Alex Sarama smiled after the game describing his reaction to the Fire’s sloppy play, “It was not the prettiest game. And maybe that’s a bit of an understatement”.
Second Quarter
Incredible second quarter defense and an all around offensive effort helped Portland settle into the game a bit and start creating some separation. Portland’s full court pressure caused 22 Connecticut turnovers, with many of them being shot clock violations as the Sun were forced to run 8-10 seconds off before getting into their offensive sets as they maneuvered through Fire players getting up the court.
While the Fire figured it out defensively, they still had their hands full trying to keep Aneesah Morrow off the glass. The impressive second-year forward had 8 points and 10 rebounds in the first half, finishing with yet another double-double, Morrow’s 6th double-double this season which leads the WNBA. Portland was able to make adjustments to Morrow’s tenacious rebounding, a positive sign in Alex Sarama’s young WNBA coaching career, limiting Morrow to just three rebounds in the entire second half.
Bridget Carleton is becoming a reliable scoring option in the WNBA. Carleton is now averaging a career high 15.3 points per game and has been a steady offensive presence throughout each game. Aside from the first win where Bridget went off for 26 points, she hasn’t done her scoring in bunches, but more so a steady 4-6 points per quarter when her team needs it most. One example being toward the end of the first half when Carleton splashed a three and got to the free throw line in the final minute of the quarter to help the Fire maintain their lead going into halftime 37-27. It was a party in the Moda Center and felt like we were on our way to the first comfortable home win in this young season.
Third Quarter
The good vibes to end the first half unfortunately didn’t carry into the start of the second half. Forcing turnovers through aggressive pressure defenses and traps has been engraved into the Fire’s identity to start the season. The Connecticut Sun gave Portland a taste of their own medicine last night as they sent tons of double teams and traps at our ball handlers, forcing us to cough up 21 turnovers, with seven of those coming in the third quarter alone.
Due to the constant turnovers in the third quarter, the Fire’s 10-point halftime lead vanished as the game all of a sudden was tied going into the fourth. At this point in the game it felt like Portland might’ve been falling for its first “trap game”, facing a hungry yet easily overlooked 1-7 Connecticut team that was missing legend Brittney Griner. The last thing you want to do is let them hang around and believe they have a chance.
Heading into the fourth quarter, Portland clearly needed a spark as they were on the verge of potentially blowing what seemed like the most winnable game so far this season. Carla Leite struggled with some of the Sun’s aggressive on ball pressure and double teams, having a season high four turnovers. The Fire in general also struggled with trying to predict passes that they thought would be open rather than reading the defense and then making a decision based off what they saw, a product of simply playing too fast. These processing issues led to passes where there was clearly no openings, miscommunication on cuts, and dysfunctional spacing. However, considering Portland is an expansion team implementing such a new and complex system to learn as CLA (Constraints Led Approach), this isn’t too much of a shock to see, especially in the first quarter of the season.
Fourth Quarter
Could Alex Sarama make the necessary adjustments to help his team pull off the win? The answer to begin the year has been yes, and after last night, that trend continued. In the fourth quarter of Portland’s five wins, they’re outscoring opponents 133-84, having added to that total as they won last night’s fourth quarter 21-11. Sarama wasn’t afraid to make major adjustments in the final stretch of a game that was potentially slipping away after three quarters. With 8:04 remaining in the game, Sarama went to Frieda Bühner and Teja Oblak to provide a much needed spark off the bench. In a game full of on ball pressure, double teams, and turnovers, Teja Oblak once again provided stability and calmness at point guard to settle our offense down. With Oblak’s years of experience in Europe, there isn’t too many defensive looks she isn’t familiar with, providing Portland with two much needed buckets, her usual timely passes, and some nice full court pressure in crucial fourth quarter minutes before handing the torch back to Carla Leite to close the game.
Frieda Bühner had what was easily her best game of the season. It wasn’t the most eye opening stat-line but more so the confidence she displayed to step up in some of the biggest moments of the game as a 21 year old rookie (at the time, happy birthday Frieda Bühner!). All season, Frieda has provided a nice mix of lateral quickness, length, and strength which allow for her to be an incredibly versatile defender. We saw that defense on display last night as Bühner helped slow down a hot Aneesah Morrow, who ended the game with 13 points and 13 rebounds but didn’t record a single point in the fourth quarter.
Carla Leite closed the game offensively, scoring 7 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter, making “The Leite Show” something fans have come to expect. Carla added yet another signature moment with a corner three to help seal the game with 1:54 and forced a turnover on the other end as she jumped in front of a pass intended for Charlisse Leger-Walker.
Bühner also scored seven of her nine points in the final six minutes of the game, helping the Fire get over the hump and secure the win. Frieda Bühner’s most memorable shot of her young Portland Fire career came with just 1:32 left in the game as she splashed a 25 foot three point shot to seal the game off of a Carla Leite drive and kick assist.
The Portland Fire pulled away and were able to secure the gutsy win 71-61 over the scrappy and aggressive Connecticut Sun. Throughout last night’s game, it may have not looked like what Alex Sarama envisioned but it was another win in what’s been an improbable start to the season. Alex Sarama summarized his thoughts on last in the post game press conference:
“We’ve set a standard with the four other wins we’ve had this year, and I really didn’t feel like that was up to our standards, but obviously really glad we got the win. We know what we’re capable of and we can play a lot, lot better than that.”
Although Sarama wasn’t too pleased, last night was another sign towards Alex Sarama being a diamond in the rough as a young coach in this league. He’s shown the ability to establish a culture, lead and inspire his players, and make adjustments on the fly in the game and during practices.
Expanding on the adjustments he decided to make that ultimately changed and saved the game for Portland, Sarama said, “We weren’t afraid to change the closing group, and I felt that’s what we needed. I felt like we were missing a spark. We needed something and we made the decision to roll with Megan, Frieda. They were playing really well and I think helped a lot”.
Through eight games of the 2026 WNBA season, I’m not sure how you couldn’t be impressed by early Coach of the Year candidate Alex Sarama and the 5-3 Portland Fire roster that Vanja Černivec architected. Can the Portland Fire continue the magical season with a tough stretch of opponents ahead?
Tonight’s MVPs:
Carla Leite, Frieda Bühner, Sarah Ashlee Barker
Box Score:
Attendance:
11,945
Next Game:
Portland Fire (5-3) vs Atlanta Dream (4-2), 7PM Friday May 29th at Moda Center (Live TV: ION, Rose City SportsNet, or Fire +)
