PORTLAND, ORE. — It only took two games for the Portland Fire to put the WNBA on notice.
The Fire slugged it out against the New York Liberty Tuesday night at the Moda Center, meeting one of the WNBA’s historically greatest franchises toe-to-toe. That one of the newest teams in the league managed a 98-96 win came down to a combined team effort, head coach Alex Sarama told reporters after the game.
“I mean, that was just special seeing what they did tonight,” a beaming Sarama said. “Just so many things to talk about in terms of literally everything we’ve asked them to do, they did. Like the game plan, I haven’t been part of a game that I’ve coached my whole career where the game plan was executed better than that. Just incredible. And I can’t wait to see where we’re going to go as a group.”
That group includes Bridget Carleton, who added 26 points, as well as Carla Leite, who had 21 points of her own.
It also includes Sarah Ashlee Barker, the hero of the night who managed to grab an offensive rebound to land the buzzer beater shot that sent the Fire over the edge. Barker crashed to the ground after the shot went in, and was immediately covered by a thrilled and screaming Leite, the rest of her teammates, and streamers that fell from the arena’s ceiling — and, of course, the thundering cheers of a fanbase that’s been all too excited to have a WNBA team to root for.
“That’s Portland Fire 101. That’s how we’re going to play this year,” Sarama said of the moment. “We want teams to come here and not look forward to playing us on the schedule because no team in the league is going to play harder than us. And that’s what the game plan is every single game for the rest of the season.”
Barker’s growth since training camp has been evident to the team, and now the rest of the league is seeing it, too.
“It’s been seeing her growth in three weeks. I think it’s … I haven’t spoken about this, but we were, we were essentially playing her out of position,” Sarama continued. “The whole training camp, she was playing as the one and there’s tons of failure.”
“And we just kept saying, this is what we want because this is you figuring out great solutions,” he continued. “And it’s just, and then in that last game, we saw some really nice reads when she was handling in our triggers, but she does everything.”
Sarah concluded, “I think she’s really finding a role and I’m excited to see her continue momentum.”
Barker was thrilled — and grateful — after the game. After alluding to “tough” circumstances in her family, Barker said, “I’m not going go into details, but just for that to happen tonight and the support that my teammates, my coaches, this organization has given me the past 24 hours, I don’t wanna be anywhere else. I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be and that’s all God’s strength at the end of the day, that’s what got me through this game.”
That energy will continue to be important, she added. “That’s what’s going to continue to get me through the next couple months. But I’ll leave it at that. This organization is something special. My teammates are something special and you saw that tonight.”
Carleton, who fired off the misplaced shot that Barker rebounded, had high praise for her teammate. “I mean, that’s who she is. I knew that last year when I had to play against her and how annoying it was to play against her because she’s just active and crashes hard and is annoying on defense and that’s just the grittiness kind of player she is,” she said when asked about how Barker made the moment happen.
“So it’s just a great example of when you do the little things, you’re rewarded in moments like that and my shot wasn’t pretty, but it bricked perfectly into her hand, so it was meant to be that way,” Carleton continued. “So I’m just really proud of her for pushing through and just being there when the moment was ready.”
For Barker, watching Carleton’s shot was an opportunity to “crash and jam” — and it worked.
The Fire will meet the Liberty again Thursday, and the opposing team could have Sabrina Ionescu back on the court. If so, the match will be the first of the season to reunite the team’s big three: Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, and Jonquel Jones. But now the Fire knows what to expect, and Sarama is counting on a key element New York won’t have at the game: their fans.
“I think we’re going to see a packed building in two night’s time, but the energy, the support from the crowd was immense,” the coach said. “So again, I keep thanking the fans, but it’s that’s what happens when they give us the energy. We’re able to get back in the game, go on those runs. So, so grateful for this fan base.”
The Portland Fire returns to the Moda Center on Thursday, May 16, at 7pm PST.
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