Dallas Wings (8-4, 4-2 Western Conference) at Portland Fire (6-8, 0-4 Western Conference)Portland, Oregon; Saturday, 8:30 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Dallas Wings takes on the Portland Fire after Paige Bueckers scored 31 points in the Wings’ 85-70 victory against the Phoenix Mercury.The Fire are 0-4 in conference matchups. Portland is eighth in the Western Conference with 21.1 defensive rebounds per game led by Emily Engstler averaging 3.6.The Wings have gone 4-2 against Western Conference opponents. Dallas ranks ninth in the WNBA scoring 37.8 points per game in the paint led by Jessica Shepard averaging 10.2.Portland is shooting 45.3% from the field this season, 1.5 percentage points lower than the 46.8% Dallas allows to opponents. Dallas averages 87.9 points per game, 0.9 more than the 87.0 Portland allows.The Fire and Wings match up Saturday for the first time this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Bridget Carleton is scoring 13.3 points per game with 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists for the Fire. Carla Leite is averaging 13.3 points and 5.4 assists over the past 10 games.Bueckers is averaging 19.8 points and 5.8 assists for the Wings. Shepard is averaging 13.9 points and 11.6 rebounds while shooting 60.0% over the past 10 games.
