Natisha Hiedeman has given the Seattle Storm a lift, but the losses have kept coming. Seattle heads to Moda Center on Wednesday to face the Portland Fire while trying to end an eight-game skid, a stretch that has turned this Storm vs fire matchup into more than a routine midweek game.
Hiedeman leads Seattle with a career-best 14.7 points per game and has averaged 19.7 points over her last three games. She has scored 14 or more points in five straight games and in nine of 15 overall, while also leading the Storm in field-goal attempts and three-point attempts and ranking second in minutes. That kind of production matters because Seattle is still searching for its first win since May 24.
The matchup is even more striking because Portland has lost five of its last six and owns the WNBA's worst Defensive Rating at 111.3. The Fire have allowed 92.4 points per game over their last five outings, which is the kind of number that usually keeps an opponent in the betting conversation. Seattle is favored by 3.5 points, and the Storm have covered in four of their last five games.
Seattle's issue is not effort from one scorer so much as the weight of the absences around her. Taina Mair was ruled out by coach's decision, Jordan Horston is out with an undisclosed injury and Ezi Magbegor is out with a foot injury. Holly Winterburn and Karlie Samuelson are listed day-to-day for Portland, but the source does not say whether either is expected to play.
Rookie Awa Fam has become part of the answer for Seattle, starting five straight games and leading the Storm in minutes over that span at 31.4 per game. She has scored 10 or more points three times in the starting lineup, giving Seattle another body to lean on while it tries to steady itself against a defense that has been unable to stop much of anything. If the Storm finally break through Wednesday, it will be because Hiedeman's scoring has held and the rest of the roster has done enough to survive the injuries that have narrowed the margin for error.
