The Guru WNBA and UPSHOT Reports: Underdogs Day as Expansion Duo Win - Portland Routs Indy and Toronto Tops Seattle; Connecticut Edges L.A.; UPSHOT Sees Greensboro Flip Into First Beating Jacksonville and Savannah Completes 3-0 on Charlotte

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

In terms of underdogs what a day on the three-game card in the WNBA with stunning victories from the two expansion outfits in the league and a third from the club with the worst record in the 15-team standings.

Starting with the newbies, out in the Northwest, Portland (6-4) on a back-to-back after losing big at home to Atlanta, woman handled Caitlin Clark and Indiana 100-84, the former Iowa great limited to six points as the Fever (4-4) lost their second straight and fell to .500 while Megan Gustafson, the Hawkeye sensation who preceded her scored 22 for the blazing Fire before  a sellout crowd of 19,347 at the Moda Center in Oregon.

Indiana’s road loss follows a narrow setback on Thursday at two-year-old Golden State.

Moving above the northern American border and across Canada to the East, Toronto (5-4) connected 31 times from the line and cruised to a 93-72 victory over Seattle (3-6) before 8,210 at the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Ontario.

Playing its first game in Hartford since coming into the league in 2003 when acquired from Orlando, Connecticut (2-8) shocked Los Angeles 84-81 before 10,478 at the PeoplesBank Arena, formerly the XL Center, to snap a three-game skid beating the visiting Sparks (4-4) who arrived from a back-to-back front end road stop Friday night defeating Washington in the nation’s capital.

The game at the second and larger home of UConn is one of several away from the nearby Mohegan Sun as part of the Sun’s farewell season before relocating under new ownership in Houston in 2027.

All four teams in the new UPSHOT League played with the Savannah Steel (4-3) for third straight night beating Charlotte, this time in a 90-78 cruise as the teams switched to the home of the Crown (1-5) in North Carolina while the three-game win streak of Jacksonville (3-2) was snapped as the Waves fell 89-71 on the road to the Greensboro Groove (4-2).

The latter two teams will stay in place in North Carolina and meet again Sunday at 2 p.m.

UPSHOT games can be viewed for free on the league’s Youtube channel.

The league will be less busy this week, Charlotte hosting Jacksonville Wednesday at noon and also hosting Savannah Saturday at 4 p.m.

Next season, Baltimore and Nashville are set to become active markets.

Fire Torch Fever

Besides Gustafson’s performance for Portland, Carla Leite had 18 points and 12 assists, while Emily Engstler had 16 points and 10 boards, becoming the first double-doubles produced for the new franchise.

Clark got into foul trouble with her fourth in the third period and only played 22 minutes, eventually landing her fifth. She was 1-for-7 from the field with two boards and six assists.

“ It’s hard when you foul, and you know, I just need to do a better job being straight up, keep the offender in front of me … Just move my feet a little bit better and yeah, definitely some tough ones,“ Clarke said. “But it’s just basketball, just a game, you know? Learn from it, watch the film and come back next game and be ready to go.”

Aliyah Boston, who was the first overall pick by Indiana out of South Carolina in 2023 a year before Clark, scored 18 points with seven rebounds.

The Fire, 4-1 in recent games, roared from the outset to a 29-15 lead and dominated the rest of the way allowing coach Alex Sarma to rest his starters in the fourth quarter.

“I just thought they were the hungrier team,” said Indiana coach Stephanie White. “They played a relentless effort, a relentless pursuit to get to what they wanted, to get to their spots on offense, to be disruptive on offense.

“Their competitive spirit was better than ours. It’s tough when your primary ball handlers are in foul trouble.’

Clark has shot 4-for-19 her last two games, the 21% combo being the worst in her career, according to ESPN Research.

“We’re a bunch of overlooked players, and I think we all have a chip on our shoulder,” Gustafson said. “I’ve never really been respected as a basketball player until I’ve gotten here, so I’m really thankful for this team, this organization. They really believe in me.”

The night was part two of a unique collaboration doubleheader involving the NWSL and WNBA in which the Thorns hosted the Utah Royals, the top two women’s soccer teams in the league, in the afternoon ahead of the Fire game.

The Portland teams are under the same ownership.

A ticket package for both events went for $80 and there was a sale of T-shirts stating “Portland Loves Women’s Sports,” The Associated Press reported.

Sarma credited his assistances Brittini Donaldson, Hall of Famer Sylvia Fowles, and Danielle Boiago for putting the game plan together.

Tempo Quell Storm

Marina Marbrey scored 18 points for Toronto while first round grab Kiki Rice, one of a single-school record six drafted last month out of NCAA champion UCLA, had 13 of her 17 points in the second half with a season-high four steals.

Brittney Sykes had 15 points against her former team while rookie Laura Juskaite scored 14, including a season-high four makes from deep, while rookie Maria Conde scored in double figures her second straight game with 13 points.

The Tempo set a WNBA record making their first 31 shots from the line before the streak snapped when Teonni Key missed Toronto’s final two free throws, leaving the Tempo at 94%.

The game was tied at 51-all with 3:50 left in the third quarter when Seattle committed three straight turnovers and the Tempo launched a 19-5 run.

Seattle’s Natasha Hiedeman scored 18 points and Jordan Horston scored 15.

Dominique Malonga missed her sixth straight for the Storm being in the cincussion protocol.

“We made some shots, we’re sharing the ball, that’s why we have a team that way,” said Toronto coach Sandy Brondello, who will face her former New York team Wednesday for the first time since being let go after the Liberty were eliminated by Phoenix in the first round last October following the first WNBA title in 2025.

“I think we played harder,” she said of limiting the Storm to 10 points in the second half. “…that was a good job, now we’ll see more tougher and tougher as we move, we’ve gotta make sure we’re maintaining that.”

 Sun Upsets Sparks

Aneesah Morrow, the former LSU star who leads the league with seven double-doubles, had her fourth straight with 17 points and 14 rebounds, while Kennedy Burke scored 14 in Connecticut’s second win of the season.

Leila Lacan debuted and was joined by Diamond Miller, each scoring 12 points. The home team had a season high 11 steals.

The Sparks’ Ariel Atkins and Rae Burrell each scored 16 points, Erica Wheeler collected 13, Nneka Ogwumike had 12 points and three boards, and Dearica Hamby scored 11 points.

The visitors rallied from a long fourth-quarter drought to move within a basket 81-79 on Burrell’s shot from deep with 52 seconds left but the Sun stayed in front the rest of the way.

Ogwumike is now tied with retired Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings for fifth with 3,315 rebounds.

Connecticut’s Brittney Griner returned from a four-game absence with a rib injury and scored nine points before leaving the game near the end of the first half having been poked in the eye.

Laican was finals MVP in the top French pro league won by her Basket Landes squad. Connecticut was 2-17 last season before her return from Euro ball and then went 9-16.

League-leading scorer Kelsey Plum (28.6) of the Sparks missed her second game due to an ankle injury and is due to be re-evaluated Tuesday.

“When you come off a game not making the shots you usually make, l wanted to make up for it this game, especially in Hartford before an amazing crowd,” Burke said. “I feel like my defense was a huge part of this win for us… it showed when we play team basketball, we can be dangerous on the court.”

“I was excited to come back and get this win because I really enjoyed this team last season,” Lacan said. “I’m just happy to be here.”

Lacan’s return caused a waiver which went to recently acquired Hailey Van Lith picked up when cut from Chicago.

Though having some offers elsewhere, according to ESPN, she opted to sign a developmental deal with the Sun, citing a better fit.

On the other side, L.A. coach Lynne Roberts said of the 3-1 road trip, “l’m happy about the 3-1,” she said. “Really disappointed into today. Over the stretch we found our rhythm but tonight was just a really bad night.”

Looking Ahead

The week and first month of the WNBA’s 30th season wraps up with a single game Sunday on NBC and Peacock at 3:30 p.m. when Las Vegas plays at Golden State.

The in-season Commissioner’s Cup intra-conference schedule of games begins Monday in the West with Seattle at Dallas at 8 p.m. on USA and Minnesota at Phoenix at 10 p.m.

It’s the only time conference standings are relevant in the overall picture, though they also come in play for the WNBA’s weekly awards.

On Tuesday, the East has Connecticut at Atlanta and Chicago at Washington, both at 7:30 p.m., while at 10 p.m. for both in the West Portland is at Golden State while Los Angeles hosts Las Vegas.

On Wednesday on the USA Net twin bill, Toronto visits New York at 7:30 p.m. in the East and Phoenix visits Seattle in the West at 10 p.m.

Thursday’s twin bill on Amazon Prime has Atlanta at Indiana at 7:30 p.m. and Golden State at Minnesota at 9 p.m.

For those new to paying attention to the WNBA, the league standings regarding playoff and seeds are combined without regard to the best teams in the East and West.

As expansion continues the rest of the decade with the additions of Cleveland (’28), Detroit (’29) and Philadelphia (’30) along with the Sun relocation to Houston, while labor peace is firmly in place – the final step of the transformative CBA in what will become an 18-team league recently announced on the weekend – attention will have to be paid to playoff format in terms of field size which also could change the non-qualifying draft lottery number of designated squads and also perhaps an alteration to in-season standings configuration establishing intra-conference divisions or as in the NBA, place the lowest qualifying seeds into opening play-in rounds.

UPSHOT Comforts

Both wins on Saturday were wider than overall recent outcomes, especially by Savannah.

Greensboro flipped into first place over Jacksonville, which has a chance to strike back on Sunday afternoon.

The Groove broke from a 19-19 first period tie to outscore the opposition in each of next three quarters.

Jessica Timmons, a former Alabama star, scored 25 points for the winners, Kamaria McDaniel from Michigan State scored 22, Philadelphia’s Diamond Johnson scored 16, and Texas A&M’s Sahara Jones grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Waves got 15 points from Northwestern grad Lindsey Pulliam, while Maryland grad Shyanne Sellers and Jasmine Walker out of Alabama each scored 12 points.

In Savannah’s win, the Steel had a balanced attack, Purdue’s Lasha Petree scored 19, Notre Dame’s Iyana Moore scored 17, Olivia Cochran and Harmoni Turner respectfully out of Louisville and Harvard each tallied 13 with Cochran pulling down eight rebounds, and Florida Gulf Coast’s Lauren Taylor scored 12.

“It feels like the work is paying off,” said Savannah coach Coretta Brown. “The players are playing with more confidence.”

Charlotte’s E’lisia Grissett out of South Carolina double-doubled with 16 points and 11 boards, Deja Kelly out of Oregon and North Carolina and Michelle Oniyah out of Cal-Berkeley each scored 13 points, the latter with eight boards and the former with 11.