WNBA: Short-handed Valkyries bury the Fire 86-69

Fourteen points in the first quarter

Tiffany Hayes got a rare start on Sunday and made the most of the first ten minutes. She scored 14 points in the opening quarter on six-of-seven shooting, two of them from behind the arc, and matched Portland’s entire team total on her own.

Golden State led 28-9 nine minutes into the game. The Valkyries beat the Fire 86-69 in Portland and closed out a five-game road trip with a fourth straight win.

Hayes finished with a game-high 18. Kayla Thornton added 17. Reserve Kaitlyn Chen scored 12 of her 15 before halftime, by which point the visitors had stretched the margin to 22 at 47-25 and led by as many as 24.

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Portland could not find the basket

The Fire missed 19 of their 22 three-point attempts across the first 20 minutes. That was the game. Golden State pushed the lead out to 26 after the break and never allowed a run.

Kaila Charles posted 11 points, a game-high eight rebounds and five assists. Veronica Burton collected 11 points, six rebounds, two steals and a team-high six assists. The Valkyries were playing in Oregon for the first time in franchise history.

Emily Engstler and Megan DiLeo scored 12 apiece for Portland. Bridget Carleton went scoreless in the first half and finished with 11. Teja Oblak handed out a game-high seven assists to go with five points and four rebounds. The Fire sit at 16-24.

Two games off the best record in the league

What makes the scoreline stand out is who was missing. Starters Gabby Williams and Cecilia Zandalasini had already left for the World Cup in Germany, and so had Janelle Salaun off the bench. Golden State scored 86 without them.

The Valkyries head into the international break at 29-11, two games behind the Minnesota Lynx in the race for the best record in the WNBA. They return on Sept. 18, hosting the Fire in the first of their four remaining regular-season games.

Portland comes back a day earlier, on Sept. 17 against the Phoenix Mercury.

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