The Seattle Storm suffered a 77-72 defeat against the visiting Portland Fire at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday, July 4, 2026, marking their 12th consecutive loss against Western Conference opponents this season.
Dominique Malonga led the Storm with 22 points, but the team fell to a 5-17 record overall after failing to sustain an early 13-0 scoring run in the first quarter.
The visiting Fire, who improved to 9-12, were anchored by Carla Leite's 20 points, which included a perfect 12-of-12 performance from the free-throw line, while Portland also out-rebounded Seattle 47-31.
Ezi Magbegor recorded four points and seven rebounds in her second game back from a foot injury, drawing praise from her coaching staff despite the team's offensive struggles where they shot 33.8% from the floor.
"Another solid performance," said Sonia Raman, Storm coach. "Making the right reads, being aggressive, pushing the ball in transition.
Great looks in the interior, which — we really need to have that paint presence with her."
Raman noted that the center is making steady progress after returning to the lineup following her recent injury layoff.
"She continues to just keep taking steps, and we’re continuing to bring her along and happy to have her out there," Raman said.
Malonga faced early foul trouble that restricted her first-half playing time to under five minutes, a situation her coach attributed to the learning curve of a young interior player in the league.
"I mean, that’s just part of it, right?" Raman said.
"Young bigs — that’s always kind of a thing that young players have to get used to. She’s what, like a sophomore, junior, in college age, right?"
The coaching staff emphasized their commitment to developing the 20-year-old center's defensive positioning without picking up quick whistles.
"Dom is just so far along that we might forget that she’s 20 years old.
But what she’s able to do out there is really phenomenal, and so we keep encouraging her and keep working with her on just being able to defend without fouling.
… Just takes time to get used to that with the big minutes that she’s playing now," Raman said.
Seattle managed to pull within three points in the final quarter before Portland executed a 5-0 run to secure the victory, leaving the Storm head coach to reflect on a mismatched offensive display.
"Some of the shots we got were really good shots, and kind of in-and-out, just didn’t fall, and I thought we generated some really good looks," Raman clarified.
"On the other side of it, there were possessions where we were a little bit stagnant, got a little stuck at certain points."
The players pointed directly to defensive lapses and rebounding differentials as the primary factors that prevented them from sustaining their comeback efforts late in the game.
"We need to lock in in the defensive end, because those rebounds — that’s what killed us tonight, the rebounds and the fouls," said Dominique Malonga, Storm center.
Despite the negative result, the roster expressed confidence in their competitive spirit as they continue searching for strategic consistency during the regular season.
"We’re trying to figure out the identity of the team," said Natisha Hiedeman, Storm guard. "We always play to the end, so obviously proud of our fight."
The squad remains focused on long-term progression as they prepare to transition into the next phase of their competitive schedule.
"But yeah, we’re trying to get to the top of the mountain," Hiedeman said.
Seattle will now begin a five-game road trip starting Monday in Los Angeles, with their next home appearance scheduled for July 20.
