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Tuesday, Aug. 1 10:00pm ET
Witherspoon scores 18 of 24 in second half | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Sophia Witherspoon has shown she's comfortable providing offense when her team needs it. Tuesday night the Portland Fire needed it. Witherspoon scored 18 of her 24 points in the second half and Tully Bevilaqua hit a go-ahead pair of free throws in the final minute, lifting the Portland Fire to a 54-50 win over the expansion Miami Sol (10-18). "Sophia is a player who, when you've just got to have a basket, can make something from nothing," Portland coach Linda Hargrove said. "She just finds a way to score." Witherspoon kept the Fire (10-18) close down the stretch, and Bevilaqua gave Portland a 51-50 lead after being fouled by Michelle Black on a fast break with 43 seconds left. Miami did not score on its next three possessions. Sheri Sam scored 23 and Marlies Askamp grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Sol, who outrebounded the Fire 34-17 but shot just 33 percent from the field and struggled against Portland's pressing defense. "We turned up the defense in the second half," Witherspoon said. "Once we come out and be the aggressors on defense, we feel nobody can play with us because everyone is active. We play great help defense." It didn't work at the start of the second half, though, as Miami went on a 10-5 run to take a 39-31 lead as the Fire went 4:37 without scoring. The Fire cut into the lead as Witherspoon hit a pair of 3-pointers to bring Portland within 42-39. Sylvia Crawley then banked a layup in with 7:18 left, and Witherspoon's pair of free throws a minute later gave Portland its first lead since the first minute of the half. "We 've got a lot of stuff we can pull out when we need it," Hargrove said, referencing the set plays for Witherspoon's 3-pointers. "But I like to get a full-court flow going. We really couldn't do that against Miami." Sam countered with a short jumper to beat the shot clock, and Black rebounded Sam's miss and hit a layup with 4:10 left to give Miami a 46-44 lead. Crawley then hit one of two free throws and DeMya Walker added a pair to give Portland a 49-48 lead. The Fire then turned up its defense. After Black hit a pair from the free-throw line with 1:19 left, Michelle Marciniak forced Sam to make a bad pass, setting up Bevilaqua's free throws. Crawley then stole a pass from Kristen Rasmussen in the final moments. "We did a good job on the boards, we just didn't take advantage of it," Miami coach Ron Rothstein said. "Your go-to players have to perform, and the complimentary players have to help out when they can." Witherspoon went 8-for-9 from the line and provided Portland with offense when it needed it the most. "I thought our offense was really stagnant at times," Hargrove said. "Sophia hadn't been used to being the leader in New York, and she was trying to do too much in the first five or six games, but she's settled into her role very nicely." | ALSO SEE WNBA Scoreboard RECAPS Houston 68 Washington 60
Portland 54
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