Key Points
- Washington beat the Portland Fire 124-123 in four overtimes on June 28 at CareFirst Arena.
- It is only the second 4OT game in WNBA history; the first was Washington's 2001 win over Seattle.
- Sonia Citron (32), Michaela Onyenwere (30), and Kiki Iriafen (27) scored 89 of Washington's 124.
- Portland's Carla Leite forced overtime with a buzzer-beating three and finished with 31.
It took four overtimes and 87 combined points after regulation, but the Washington Mystics outlasted the expansion Portland Fire 124-123 on June 28 at CareFirst Arena in one of the longest games in WNBA history. It was just the second quadruple-overtime game the league has ever staged — and, fittingly, Washington was part of both.
How it happened
Regulation ended 87-87 only because Portland's Carla Leite banked in a fadeaway three at the buzzer to force the first overtime. From there the two teams traded the lead across four extra periods before Washington finally closed it out by a single point. Sonia Citron led the Mystics with 32 points, Michaela Onyenwere added 30, and rookie Kiki Iriafen posted 27 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists in 48 minutes before fouling out — the trio accounting for 89 of Washington's 124. Leite finished with a team-high 31 for the Fire, who pushed the home side to the brink in just their first season.
Why it matters
The read: the only other quadruple-overtime game in WNBA history was Washington's 2001 win over the Seattle Storm, which makes the Mystics the only franchise to play in two of them — and they are 2-0. But the more telling story is on the other bench. The expanded, better-funded WNBA added the Portland Fire this season hoping new franchises would be competitive rather than overmatched, and a brand-new team taking a playoff contender to four overtimes on the road is exactly that bet paying off. It is the kind of instant classic that travels well in a league riding real momentum, the same attention economy powering everything from viral on-court standoffs to record television numbers. Portland lost; it also announced itself.
Source: Bullets Forever and WNBA.com.
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