The Portland Fire ended Wednesday’s home game on a 21-6 scoring spurt to overtake the Connecticut Sun for an 81-71 win at the Moda Center.
T. Oblak sparked the scoring spree with back-to-back layups, while Frieda Buhner came off the bench for another two buckets to put Portland up 58-55. The Fire defense also forced a pair of shot clock violations during finishing run.
Carla Leite and Buhner knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to put the game out of reach 66-57 with 1:32 to play.
Buhner came off the bench to score a career-high nine points.
“This is part of our identity to always bring that energy from the bench,” Buhner said. “We are a team that nobody wants to play against because they know we can always comeback — that energy is just amazing.”
Leite led the Fire with 20 points and was a perfect 10-for-10 at the free-throw line.
Connecticut was held to 24-for-62 (38.7%) shooting and made only 1 of 21 (4.8%) from behind the arc.
“With our rotation system, we are always having fresh bodies out there and that really helps,” Fire coach Alex Sarama said.
Brandi Carleton hit a 3-pointer late in the first half that sent Portland into the locker room with a 10-point lead.
The teams traded the lead five times in the third quarter before Hailee Van Lith converted a three-point play to give the Sun a 55-50 edge early in the fourth quarter.
The Fire would score on five of their next six trips down the court to start their winning charge.
“We’re never going to give up; that’s just who we are since the preseason,” Carleton said.
Portland (5-3) stays at home through the weekend with Atlanta in town on Friday night, followed by Indiana on Saturday.
