The Portland Fire Got First Franchise Win On a Buzzer-Beater, and the Team's Reaction Was Best Part

The Portland Fire—one of the WNBA's two newest expansion teams—notched its first franchise win vs. the Liberty on Tuesday, putting the squad at 1-1 on the season. However, it's how the team pulled off the win, as well as their emotion immediately following, that you're going to want to see.

With the clock dwindling in the fourth quarter at Oregon's Moda Center, the Fire and Liberty were tied 96-96. Portland forward Bridget Carleton tried for what would have been a game-winning three, but the ball hit the glass and bounced back down to the court. Luckily, Fire guard Sarah Ashlee Barker got the rebound ... then laid the ball back up as time expired. The Fire won, 98–96, and the place went wild.

Now, as electric as this moment is to watch, it's really everything that happened just after the buzzer-beater that will bring a tear to your eye.

Off-kilter from the effort of her last-second putback, Ashlee Barker was actually lying on the ground by the hoop as the clock ran out. And when reality set in that her team had won, she put her hands to her face and cried, as her teammates piled onto her on the ground and confetti cascaded through the air.

Quite moving, indeed, especially for Barker, whose emotions were already heightened at that point.

“I’ll be honest, it’s been an emotional 24 hours," the red-eyed guard said after the fact, still on the court. "I lost somebody who was important to me yesterday. And so tonight was God’s strength, not mine. So, just perfect ending.”

Per The Oregonian, the 24-year-old Bama export had been frustrated with her performance up to that point; she'd had two turnovers and had gone 1-for-4 on shooting. But she certainly made up for it all in the game's final seconds.

"Saw it come off the backboard and I knew I had to get it up quick," she explained during media availability. "So I kinda just tossed it up there, and it went in."

In the locker room, players greeted coach Alex Samara with the traditional post-big-win water bottle shower.

"That was incredible," he told the group. "I've never had a game like that in my life. Just incredible. Really tough to put into words. Every single one of you stepped up and played a role tonight."

Certainly, this is a well-deserved feather in the Fire's cap. The 2024 champion Liberty were notably without Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally, among others, but they still had stars like Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones to make plays. Thanks to Carleton's career-high 26 points, though—plus double-digit performances from three other players: Kamiah Smalls (13), Carla Leite (21) and Luisa Geiselsoder (13)—the Fire were never out of the game.

Even when New York went ahead by two in the final minute, Leite responded with a field goal to tie things up.. And as for the rest, well, you already know.

In addition to its solid efforts on the scoring front, Portland also forced 18 turnovers, which led to 25 points. The Fire will be looking to keep this momentum going on Thursday, when they again host the Liberty at 10 p.m. ET.

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