Sun road trip ends the way it started: with a loss in Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. — Carla Leite scored 20 points and the expansion Portland Fire won their third straight game with a 71-61 victory over the Connecticut Sun on Wednesday night.

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Bridget Carleton added 13 points for the Fire, who were coming off road victories over the Toronto Tempo and the New York Liberty.

Aneesah Morrow had 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Sun, who have just one win to open the season. The game was the last of a five-game trip that started with an 83-82 loss to the Fire.

The Sun led, 55-50, with 8:04 left in the game but Portland’s Teja Oblak answered with a pair of baskets to get to 55-54 and the Fire pulled back in front on Frieda Buhner’s layup.

Buhner added a layup to make it 58-55 with 4:25 left and Portland led the rest of the way.

The Sun were 0 for 13 from the perimeter in the first half. Morrow hit Connecticut’s first 3-pointer with 8:23 left in the third quarter, closing the gap to 39-32.

The Sun pulled within 43-42 on Olivia Nelson-Ododa’s basket then took the lead on Morrow’s layup and the game was tied at 50 going into the final quarter.

Brittney Griner, who led the Sun with 16 points in the previous meeting with the Fire, was not available because of right rib injury. Griner remains a point away from 6,000 career points.

Suns center Aaliyah Edwards went down with 5:02 left in the opening quarter after it appeared that Sarah Ashlee Barker knocked her in the face. Barker was handed a flagrant foul but Edwards missed both free throws. Shortly thereafter Edwards left the game with what the team said was a nose injury.

The Sun will host the Los Angeles Sparks on Saturday at Peoples Bank Arena in Hartford, the team’s first game in the city since 2003.

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