Tully Bevilaqua has waited 24 years to see the Portland Fire back on a WNBA floor, and on Wednesday night she will watch the revival from the Indiana Fever bench when the teams meet at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The 53-year-old Australian is now an advance scout and video coordinator for Indiana, but Portland still reaches her as something more personal than a job assignment.
Bevilaqua played for the first Portland Fire team in 2000, when the franchise opened its inaugural campaign and she helped the club earn its first victory over the Seattle Storm. In that win, she had 2 points, four assists and a game-high eight rebounds, a line that still comes up when she talks about the old days. Her mother has never let her forget it, Bevilaqua said with a laugh.
Portland’s return makes the matchup feel like a loop closing on itself. The Fire folded in 2002 after just three seasons, having gone 37-59 and never reaching the playoffs, even as the franchise’s profile and attendance were building. This season, Portland is back as one of two WNBA expansion teams, with the Toronto Tempo joining it in the league’s newest wave of growth.
That is why Wednesday matters in a way a normal regular-season game does not. Bevilaqua said the original Fire were moving in the right direction before they vanished, and their return feels like picking up a story that was cut off too early. She called the shutdown a real surprise and a real disappointment, and said the new club looks familiar in the best way because of its integrity, fight and the passion that has made the team easy to follow.
She remembers more than one upset from that first season, including Portland’s 80-77 road win over the Los Angeles Sparks. Bevilaqua had 7 points, three rebounds and two assists in that game, which she said felt like a championship celebration because nobody expected the Fire to win. The memory still hangs on the details, including an offseason-like morning at the beach before the game and a finish that made the celebration feel bigger than the score.
Bevilaqua’s perspective carries added weight because she has seen the league from almost every angle. She played for five teams across 14 WNBA seasons, won a championship with the Storm in 2004 and later spent six years with the Fever from 2005 to 2010. Fever coach Stephanie White was also part of the first game between Indiana and Portland in 2000, another thread that ties this matchup to the league’s earlier era.
The old Fire were one of the original WNBA teams, but their run ended quickly despite the early buzz around the franchise. Portland’s comeback this year gives the city another shot at something it lost more than two decades ago, and for Bevilaqua it is a reminder that some teams never really disappear. They wait.
