The Guru WNBA and NCAAW Report: Portland Upsets New York for First Franchise Win; Minnesota and Atlanta Also Gain Narrow Victories

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

All three WNBA games Tuesday night went deep into fourth quarter before the winning teams were decided as expansion Portland went to 1-1 for the franchise’s first ever victory stunning still-shorthanded New York 98-96 before a crowd of 12,386 at the Moda Center in Oregon to hand the Liberty (2-1) their first loss.

Atlanta (2-0) ruined the home opener of Dallas (1-1), winning 77-72 before a crowd of 6,251 at the College Park Center in suburban Arlington, the host Wings missing overall No. 1 pick Azzi Fudd out of UConn with a knee injury.

Minnesota (1-1) bounced back from its weekend home loss delivering a bit of a payback for last season’s semifinals elimination by Phoenix (1-2) handing the host Mercury an 88-84 setback before a crowd of 10,826 at the Mortgage Matchup Center in the venue where UCLA handled South Carolina last month to win its first NCAA Women’s Final Four and second national collegiate title overall.

And in an outside news item the WNBA and Disney reported that Saturday’s Dallas narrow win at Indiana spoiling the return of Caitlin Clark drew 2.5 million average viewers on ABC, the  second most watched regular season league game ever.

The league also announced All-Star tickets for the weekend extravaganza returning to Chicago July 24-25 will go in sale May 19.

Dream Clip Wings

Atlanta’s Allisha Gray scored 26 points, and Angel Reese, the third-year pro coming over in a trade from Chicago, continued to do her double-double thing with 12 points and 16 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass that was an o-board better than Dallas as a team.

Reese out of LSU now has 51 double doubles after Saturday became the second youngest WNBA player behind the recently retired Tina Charles to reach 50.

Jordin Canada scored 19 for the Dream, with seven boards and five assists, while Rhyne Howard collected 14 but Brionna Jones was sidelined with a right knee injury.

Dallas’ Arike Ogunbowale had 20 points, reigning rookie of the year Paige Bueckers scored 15 points while Jessica Shepard had 12 points with eight rebounds.

Atlanta started the fourth with a 15-6 run concluding with a contested 3-pointer from Canada with 3:34 left in regulation for a 73-65 lead.

 As for Fudd, who did not start in Saturday’s win because first-year coach Jose Fernandez wanted all veterans for now in his first five, he said ahead of the game she was being rested “out of an abundance of caution, and long-term health.

“It’s a long season, she just finished a long season, we have to put her in the best position to be success. She’s going to have a great season.”

Gray said of playing with Reese, “She’s always a positive person no matter what state we are in a game, bringing us together, she’s such a hard worker. And she’s such a great person as well.”

Fire Edge Liberty

All those media places that rushed to an immediate power ranking after the league’s opening weekend placing New York at the top and predicting a Monday blowout found the choices did not age well.

Bridget Carleton had a career-best 26 points for Portland with five makes from deep but after New York was assessed a three-second violation with 13.8 seconds left in regulation and the score tied, Carleton missed a game-winner from distance but Sarah Ashlee Barker cleaned it up with rebound and a putback beating the clock followed by her teammates piling on top of her in celebration.

Barker had five points in 22 minutes as a substitute while Carla Leite scored 21 with six helpers and Luisa Geiselsoder and Kamiah Smalls each collected 13 points.

The win negated five New York starters scoring in double figures led by rookie Pauline Astier starting in place of the injured Sabrina Ionescu scoring 24 points while Marine Johannes scored 18.

Jonquel Jones had 17 points, Breanna Stewart had 16 points, 10 boards, and four blocks, while Rutgers grad Betnijah Laney-Hamilton scored 10 points.

The long ball was working both sides, the teams combining for 28 makes from deep.

Ionescu’s Oregon college coach Kelly Graves was among the crowd.

The Saturday crowd of 19,000 plus was the second largest for a home opener in WNBA history.

Satou Sabally also was again on the sidelines for New York, which blew a 51-38 lead existing in the first half before shaved the deficit to 54-47 at the break.

With the league using a travel saver on road trips the two teams will play again in Portland Thursday.

Lynx Top Mercury

Nia Coffey took rookie Olivia Miles’ feed for an easy 3-pointer and four-point lead with 25.6 seconds left in regulation and then Miles, the newcomer out of Central New Jersey and Notre Dame and TCU, the second overall pick, rebounded a missed distance shot with 13.2 left and went 1-for-2 from the line to secure Minnesota’s victory.

Kayla McBride scored 14 points for the Lynx, while Coffey and Miles each with 13 points, Coffey with three long makes and 10 rebounds, additionally, and Miles with six boards and seven assists, and Courtney Williams and Emma Cechova each scored 11.

Napheesa Collier, the runner up MVP, off surgery on both ankles, is sidelined for the visitors until June.

The loss ruined Philly Kahleah Copper’s night, the Rutgers grad scoring 30 for Phoenix while DeWanna Bonner scored 16 and Alyssa Thomas had 10 points and eight assists.

Natasha Mack added 10 boards and nine points for the Mercury who got half of their first half makes from beyond the arc.

“Nia turned down the first open one and then it came back to her, and she was wise to take that second shot and glad she did,” said Minnesota coach and La Salle grad Cheryl Reeve. “It was big for us.

“We’re happy overall with our response to some things we didn’t do well last game like rebounding.”

On the other side, “We gotta understand every night in this league you have to come to play,” said Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts. “I don’t think we competed at the level that we needed to.”

Looking Ahead

On Wednesday, Toronto hosts Seattle at 7 p.m. on league pass, Connecticut hosts Las Vegas at 8 as USA becomes part of the national platforms, while at 10 p.m., Golden State hosts Chicago at 10 p.m. on League Pass and Los Angeles hosts Indiana at 10:30 p.m. on USA.

The Thursday night Amazon Primetime doubleheader has Dallas hosting Minnesota at 8 p.m. and Portland hosting New York at 10 p.m.

All four Friday games are on League Pass beginning with Connecticut hosting Las Vegas at 7:30 p.m. while ION joins the other three: Indiana hosting Washington at 7:30 p.m., and at 10 p.m., Los Angeles hosts Toronto, and Phoenix hosts Chicago.

The league is dark Saturday.

College News

Former La Salle star Molly Masciantonio will return to her alma mater as an assistant coach to Mountain MacGillivray this season.

Saint Joseph’s will return last season’s visit by Penn State.

Earlier this week, the Lady Lions announced former great Susan Robinson Fruchtl, who had been employed at her alma mater, will join alum and first-year coach Tanisha Wright’s staff as senior director of advancement and strategic relations.

Earlier former PSU scoring great Kelly Mazzante also joined Wright’s staff.

The Ivy League announced that in the men’s and women’s four-team each Ivy Madness tourney returning to The Palestra, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary, with the expansion of the NCAA tourney, the men will play on Friday and Saturday as a precaution if the rep lands a low seed to allow a second open day ahead of travel.

Both genders played the same days Saturday and Sunday when the first two Ivy events were held but when rotation began and smaller arenas became sites, the women moved to Thursday practice and Friday and Saturday games.

No word yet if the women will back up one day or maintain the same calendar.

Villanova, whose Pope Leo XIV is an alum and whose men and women will open the NCAA season in Rome against Notre Dame on Sunday, Nov. 1 – the women 12 p.m. on FS1, the men 9:30 a.m. on FOX, will meet LSU in the field of the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Florida the weekend of Nov. 27 and Nov. 28.

The ‘Cats, who will also play Kansas State, and Tigers last met in 2003, LSU winning 63-56, but nearly met twice recently in the NCAA tourney – in 2023 Maddy Siegrist’s senior year when Villanova lost to Miami, and last season in Baton Rouge when ‘Nova lost to Texas Tech.

UConn and South Carolina will meet Nov. 24 in the Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, the first meeting since Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks upset the Huskies in the NCAA semifinals followed by a postgame dustup between Geno Auriemma and Staley.

Auriemma spoke to Staley several days later and both Hall of Famers said they were moving on after making peace.

The second game will match defending champion UCLA and St. John’s.