Tied at Seventy.

Tied at Seventy.

Eight minutes and thirty-nine seconds. That is how close the Portland Fire came to winning their home opener and the loudest game Moda Center has hosted in years.

Bridget Carleton buried her third triple of the night. The scoreboard read 70-70. Nineteen thousand three hundred thirty-five people made the kind of noise that Skylar Diggins later said had her ears still ringing in the press conference. The original Portland Fire (2000-2002) had never played a regular-season game this loud. Twenty-four years of waiting was tied at seventy with eight minutes and thirty-nine seconds to play. Year-two Sky head coach Tyler Marsh’s first 2026 game was about to get hijacked by an expansion roster on the road.

Then Chicago happened. Kamilla Cardoso punched the paint for two more buckets. Diggins found a corner three. Rickea Jackson drew a foul. The Fire’s six-of-twenty-nine night from three meant a lot of long rebounds, and the Sky cleaned them all. Forty-six rebounds to twenty-four for the night. The Sky closed on a 28-13 run. Final: Sky 98, Fire 83.

The Fire walked off to a standing ovation. Sometimes that is the truer scoreboard.

What 19,335 Sounded Like.

Justine Skye sang the anthem. Players wore warm-up T-shirts that said “Legacy Reignited” on the front and “2002 PDX 2026” on the back, a reference to the original Fire that folded when Paul Allen declined to buy the team. Tina Kotek (Oregon’s governor) was in the building. Ron Wyden (Oregon’s senior senator) was in the building. Carrie Brownstein, of all the Carrie Brownsteins this town has, was in the building. Jrue and Lauren Holiday were in the building.

Carla Leite made the first Fire basket of the modern era at the 1:02 mark of the first quarter, a layup. The applause was a noise this league has not heard from Portland in twenty-four years. Ashanti played at halftime. She was the 2002 Billboard Music Award winner for Female Artist of the Year, the same year the original Fire played their final season. The Fire’s marketing department understood the assignment.

The “Fire Pit” framing was not just a marketing label. Sarah Ashlee Barker and Bridget Carleton both used it postgame.

The Comeback (Q3).

The Fire trailed 50-37 at halftime. The fix in the locker room had to be aggressive. Coach Sarama opened the third quarter on a 12-2 run, capped by two consecutive Carleton 3-pointers. The 30-18 third quarter cut a thirteen-point halftime margin into a tie game. Portland scored more than a third of its 83 points in the third quarter alone.

That kind of quarter does not happen on accident. It happens when Geiselsöder sets two screens that pull Cardoso out of the lane. It happens when Engstler gets her hands on a passing lane. It happens when Carleton catches the ball with her feet set and lets it fly without thinking. The Fire did all of that for ten straight minutes.

The Last 8:39.

Carleton’s third triple tied it. The Fire had the Sky exactly where they wanted them.

Cardoso did not let it stay there. She bullied the paint on the next several Sky possessions. Diggins picked off a Fire pass and ran it for a layup. Jaquez (the rookie out of UCLA) drew a foul. Cardoso scored again. The lead was eight before Portland could get a clean look back.

The truth of expansion-team basketball is that the last eight minutes are where chemistry shows up or doesn’t. Chicago has Cardoso plus a re-tooled veteran-heavy backcourt that has been running through the same plays since training camp. Portland has eleven new players who first practiced together three weeks ago. Most of those eleven looked like the players you signed up to watch. Some did not. That is May 9.

Carla Leite, 18 Points.

Carla Leite is a 21-year-old French national-team point guard. She had 18 points, three rebounds, three assists, one turnover in 29 minutes. She made eleven of her twelve free throws. Eleven of twelve.

Eleven of twelve is the line of the night for any Fire fan looking for something to feel good about. It is the line of a guard who is not scared of contact, who is willing to take the layup that gets her hit, and who hits the line and makes the team pay. Leite’s free-throw rate is the kind of thing that does not show up in highlight reels and absolutely shows up in the win column over a 44-game season. The Seattle preseason was sloppy from the line for her (5-of-11 in that game). On Saturday night, on the floor that is now her home, she was as locked in as anyone wearing red and black.

Bridget Carleton’s 70-Tying Triple.

Carleton was not with the team for the April 29 preseason opener at Seattle. She played the May 3 home preseason and then started Saturday’s home opener.

She played 30 minutes. Three of seven from three. Four assists. The most efficient three-point shooter on a team that needs efficient three-point shooting. The 70-tying shot at 8:39 was an open look. Carleton was a 39 percent three-point shooter for the Lynx in 2025. The shot went in. Of course it did.

The first overall expansion pick was the cornerstone player tonight. The plus-minus (-6) was the second-best on the team. The Fire are going to need a lot more of those nights from her. They are also going to need her at full health. The fact that the team rested her for the Seattle preseason and got her on the floor for both home games tells you something about how they are managing the workload. Watch this.

The Debuts.

Three Portland Fire players made their WNBA debut on Saturday: Frieda Bühner, Jordan Harrison, and Serah Williams. All three got real minutes.

Bühner, the German rookie playing as Portland’s only development-pool player under the new CBA, scored four points and grabbed three rebounds in 13 minutes. The development pool lets a team activate her for up to 12 regular-season games before they have to sign her to a prorated minimum standard contract. Game one is in the books. Eleven activations to go.

Harrison, the 5’6” undrafted rookie out of West Virginia, played 11 minutes and put up four assists. The point-guard depth call (Sutton plus Harrison plus Leite plus the suspended Oblak/Smalls available later) was the most contested roster decision of training camp. Harrison made the cut on May 8. Saturday she made it look like the right call.

Serah Williams, the UConn center Portland traded up to draft (#33 overall, sent #37 plus a 2027 third-round pick to Connecticut), had a tough first regular-season game: zero points on 0-of-3 shooting in eight minutes. She had been the most efficient Fire player in both preseason games (3-of-3 against Seattle, 12-and-8 against the Sparks). The line will not haunt her. The schedule still has 43 more games.

What Worked.

Free throws. 16-of-20, 80 percent. Leite’s 11-of-12 is the eye-popper, but the team line is what matters. Portland gets to the rim and gets fouled.

Bench scoring. Barker (13), Gustafson (10), Bühner (4), Harrison (4) combined for 31 of Portland’s 83. That is reliable depth from the second unit.

The third quarter. 30-18. The system-can-work part of the night.

Engstler’s defense. Three blocks. Hands on every passing lane. The plus-minus (-3) was second-best on the team.

What Didn’t.

Rebounding. Outboarded 46-24. Twenty-two-rebound differential. Cardoso alone had as many rebounds (14) as the entire Fire bench. This is the gap that turned a tie game into a 15-point loss in the last eight minutes.

Three-point shooting. 9-of-29, 31 percent. The Fire identity Sarama is selling is paint-touches plus open threes. Saturday the open threes were not falling. Geiselsöder went 1-of-6 from deep. The shot diet was right. The makes were not. With the volume Portland is going to take from three, regression to anywhere near 35 percent gets a lot of these games closer.

The first half. A 17-point first-half deficit means a flawless second half just to draw even. The Fire got the flawless third quarter. They could not also get a flawless fourth.

What’s Next.

Tuesday, May 12 vs the New York Liberty. 7 PM PT, Moda Center, Rose City SportsNet. Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon Duck, 2024 WNBA champion, four-time All-Star) comes home. Game two of the Liberty back-to-back is Thursday, May 14, also 7 PM PT. Then Connecticut at home on May 18 (the “Legacy, Reignited” retro deck-of-cards giveaway, first 5,000).

Three home games in nine days against three of the league’s best. Portland’s first road trip is May 27 onward. The fast read on the home opener: a team that needs another month of rotation continuity, a Carleton ankle that did not get tested, a Leite who can score 18 a night, and a building that will absolutely be packed again Tuesday.

The Fire walked off to a standing ovation. They will get one again. They are going to have to win one of these eventually for it to mean something else.

Coach Sarama said it best after the game.

Read Next.

• Game day guide: Moda Center — transit, parking, food, bag policy
• Full 44-game schedule — every Fire game with broadcast info
• Final 12 + dev pool — the roster that took the floor tonight
• Original Fire history (2000-2002) — what the warm-up shirts honor
• Combined calendar: Fire + Thorns + Cascade — every Portland women’s pro game

Sources.

Sky 98-83 Fire box score (ESPN) · Sky vs Fire game recap (KPTV/AP) · Sky survive first road test against Fire (Chicago Sun-Times) · Tyler Marsh enters year two (Sun-Times)