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Two nights after the Portland Fire stole one at the buzzer, the New York Liberty came back to Moda Center without Sabrina Ionescu, without Satou Sabally, and without their normal lineup, and beat the Fire by 18. New York Liberty 100, Portland Fire 82. It was a 9-point game at the half. The Liberty hit 11 of 14 in the third quarter, outscored Portland 31-16 in that frame, and the lead reached 22 in the fourth. Breanna Stewart led the Liberty with 22, rookie Pauline Astier added 20, and Alex Fowler, a former University of Portland star who signed a Liberty developmental contract earlier the same day, dropped 12 points on 4-of-7 with two threes in 17 minutes of her WNBA debut on the floor of her old college home. The Liberty bench, which scored 11 total points on Tuesday, scored 41 on Thursday with eight 3-pointers. Megan Gustafson led the Fire with 14 points in 14 minutes off the bench. The Fire fall to 1-2.

30-32
Rebounds · Us / Them
29%
Three-Point
65%
Free Throws

Quarter by Quarter

New York Liberty
14
25
31
30
100
Portland Fire
20
17
16
29
82

Q3 Killed Us.

Tuesday night the Portland Fire beat the New York Liberty 98-96 on a Sarah Ashlee Barker putback at the buzzer. Two days later, in the same building, with mostly the same Liberty lineup minus Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally, the Liberty came back and won 100-82. The third quarter is where the game ended.

The Fire led after the first quarter, 20-14. They trailed by two at halftime, 39-37, after a Betnijah Laney-Hamilton layup gave New York the lead in the final minute of the second. Then the third opened and the Liberty shot 11 of 14 from the field. Eleven of fourteen. That is a 78.6 percent shooting clip in a single ten-minute stretch against a defense that two nights earlier had held this same opponent to 96. The Liberty outscored Portland 31-16 in the quarter. By the time the fourth opened the lead was double digits. It reached 22 before Portland’s bench closed it back to 18 in the final minutes against the Liberty’s deep reserves.

The Bench Bench Mob.

On Tuesday the Liberty bench scored 11 points. On Thursday it scored 41. That is the entire game in one number.

Pauline Astier, the rookie who scored 24 on Tuesday off the bench, scored 20 on Thursday. Rebekah Gardner added 14. Julie Vanloo hit three 3-pointers for 9. Alex Fowler came off the bench in her WNBA debut and scored 12 on 4-of-7 with two threes in 17 minutes (more on her in a minute). That is 55 bench points across four players. The Liberty made eight 3-pointers from the second unit. The Fire could not respond from their own bench because Megan Gustafson was the only Fire reserve who got hot, and her 14 in 14 minutes is exactly the kind of efficient line that wins games when it has support and loses games when it does not.

The Local Angle. Alex Fowler.

The story of the Thursday game that will not show up in the box score column is Alex Fowler. The University of Portland sent her into the WNBA as a free agent. The Liberty signed her to a developmental deal earlier the same day. She walked into Moda Center, the building three blocks from her old college home, took the floor in a visiting jersey, and dropped 12 points on 4-of-7 in 17 minutes. Per Basketball Australia, she became the first player in WNBA history on a developmental deal to reach double figures in her WNBA debut. The University of Portland announced the signing on their own athletics site the same day with the headline “Alex Fowler Becomes First Pilot to Make WNBA Roster.”

Portland sports fans whose feelings about the result land somewhere between “we got blown out” and “but the kid from up the hill went off” are not wrong to hold both. Both things are true.

The Fire Side.

Bridget Carleton went 26 to 11. The Liberty rotated different defenders onto her through the night and Portland could not find the same clean perimeter looks that produced five 3-pointers on Tuesday. That is the league’s response to her breakout night, and it is the league’s response to every breakout night by every player on every roster. It will keep happening. The question is what the Fire build to counter it.

Megan Gustafson led the team with 14 in 14 minutes. The veteran free-agent signing has been the most efficient scorer on the roster through three games. The Fire’s identity question for the next two months is whether her minutes go up.

Nyadiew Puoch scored 13. Emily Engstler scored 11 with the usual handful of blocks and steals. Haley Jones scored 10 off the bench. Sug Sutton dropped 8 assists in 20 minutes with one turnover, which is a 8-to-1 ratio that any team in the league would take.

The Liberty rolled Marine Johannes out for 11 assists on 32 team assists across 34 made field goals. Those are not numbers a team puts up by accident.

What This Was.

Two nights after a buzzer-beater win against a depleted Liberty roster, Portland faced the exact same depleted Liberty roster, and the depleted Liberty roster played a better basketball game. The Liberty bench scored 41 points without Ionescu or Sabally. That is the story. The third quarter was the moment the game tipped. The 22-point fourth-quarter lead was the moment the game closed.

The Fire are 1-2 with their three-game opening homestand complete. The schedule keeps going.

What’s Next.

The schedule moves on. Check the Fire schedule for the next opponent, and the Moda Center game day guide for when the team is back home. The Portland Fire roster has every player profile, and the Portland Fire history page puts this expansion season in the context of the 2000-2002 original Fire.

For complete WNBA scoring, attendance figures, and team statistics across the league, see WNBA.com and ESPN’s WNBA page.

Sources.

Portland Fire Box Score

PlayerMINPTSREBASTFG3PTFT
Megan Gustafson 14 14 — — — — —
Nyadiew Puoch — 13 — — — — —
Bridget Carleton — 11 — — — — —
Emily Engstler — 11 — — — — —
Haley Jones — 10 — — — — —
Sug Sutton 20 — — 8 — — —

By the Numbers

44%
FG
29%
3PT
65%
FT
30-32
REB (us / them)
16-12
TO (us / them)

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the final score in Portland Fire vs New York Liberty on May 14, 2026?
New York Liberty 100, Portland Fire 82 at Moda Center. The Fire led 20-14 after the first quarter, trailed 39-37 at halftime after Betnijah Laney-Hamilton's late layup, and were outscored 31-16 in the third quarter as the Liberty pulled away. The lead reached 22 in the fourth before Portland's bench closed the gap with garbage-time minutes.
Why did Portland lose by 18 after winning by two on Tuesday?
Two reasons. First, the Liberty bench. On Tuesday Portland's reserves outscored New York's bench 22 to 11. On Thursday New York's bench scored 41 with eight made 3-pointers (Pauline Astier 20, Alex Fowler 12, Rebekah Gardner 14, Julie Vanloo 9 on three triples). Second, the third quarter. Portland was within striking distance at halftime (39-37 Liberty). New York shot 11-of-14 in the third quarter, outscored the Fire 31-16, and the game was effectively over by the time the fourth opened.
Did Sabrina Ionescu play in the May 14 Portland Fire game?
No. Sabrina Ionescu, the Oregon Ducks legend and four-time WNBA All-Star, missed her fourth consecutive game with a left foot injury. Satou Sabally also missed her fourth consecutive game. The Liberty have now beaten the Fire and several other opponents without two of their highest-paid starters available.
Who is Alex Fowler and why was her game important?
Alex Fowler is a former University of Portland star who finished her Pilots career as the highest-scoring women's basketball player in school history. Per University of Portland Athletics, she signed a Liberty developmental contract earlier on May 14, hours before tipoff. She came off the bench and scored 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting with two 3-pointers in 17 minutes in her WNBA debut, playing on the floor of her former college home. Per Basketball Australia's coverage of her game, she became the first player in WNBA history on a developmental deal to reach double figures in a WNBA debut.
How did Bridget Carleton play against the Liberty on May 14?
Eleven points, a 15-point drop from her 26 in Tuesday's win. The Liberty rotated defenders on her through the night and Portland could not find the open spacing that produced five 3-pointers two nights earlier. Carleton's drop and the Liberty's effective defensive coverage of the Fire's primary scorer was a key part of the third-quarter run.
Who led the Fire in scoring?
Megan Gustafson, 14 points in 14 minutes off the bench. The veteran free-agent signing (April 12) has been the Fire's most efficient scorer through three games. Nyadiew Puoch added 13, and Bridget Carleton, Emily Engstler, and Haley Jones each scored 10 or 11. The line distribution was wider than Tuesday's, but there was no single 20-plus scorer to anchor it. That gap was the difference.
What was Marine Johannes' line for the Liberty?
A career-high 11 assists with one turnover in 28 minutes. The Liberty assisted 32 of their 34 made field goals, which is exceptional ball movement. When the Liberty bench got hot in the third quarter, Johannes was the one finding the open shooters.
Did Carla Leite play in the May 14 Fire game?
Yes, Leite started at point guard as she has all season. Public per-player detail beyond minutes and shooting splits is limited at this writing; we'll update the Leite line as it lands. She was on the floor for the team's slow start in Q2 and for the third-quarter collapse.
What is the Portland Fire's record after the May 14 game?
1-2. A loss in the May 9 home opener vs Chicago Sky (98-83), a win over the New York Liberty on May 12 (98-96), and a loss to the same Liberty on May 14 (100-82). Up next: the road trip portion of the Fire's three-game opening week wraps with the home stand closed, then the schedule moves into the back-to-back stretches that define WNBA expansion seasons.
How is the Liberty's record after this game?
3-1. Per ESPN and TSN, the Liberty finished a four-game road trip strong with the win in Portland. They have played the entire stretch without Ionescu and Sabally and have built it on bench production that has now hit 41 points in a single game.
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