Natisha Hiedeman Pushes Storm Vs Fire With 14.7-Point Pace
storm vs fire lands Wednesday at Moda Center with Seattle trying to end an eight-game skid and Portland carrying the WNBA’s worst Defensive Rating at 111.3. Natisha Hiedeman enters as Seattle’s top scorer at 14.7 points per game, and she has scored 14 or more in five straight games. The matchup also comes with several players on the injury report.
Hiedeman Drives Seattle
Hiedeman has been the most reliable scoring piece in Seattle’s recent stretch. She has averaged 19.7 points across her last three games, a sharper run than her season average, and she has topped 14 points in nine of 15 games overall. That kind of production has kept her at the center of Seattle’s offense while the Storm try to stop the slide.
Awa Fam has given Seattle a second steady option in the starting group. The rookie has started five straight games, led the team in minutes per game during that span at 31.4, and scored 10 or more points three times as a starter. Seattle has needed that extra volume because the Storm enter with an eight-game skid and a bottom-six offense by rating.
Portland’s Defensive Edge
Portland’s defense has not held up over the last five games. The Fire have surrendered 92.4 points per game in that stretch, and their Defensive Rating has fallen to 117. Even so, Seattle faces the league’s worst season-long mark at 111.3, which makes Portland’s recent form part of the same problem rather than a clean edge.
The Fire have also dropped five of their last six games, so both teams arrive with short runs that have gone the wrong way. Seattle is 7th in Defensive Rating and 4-1 against the spread across its last five games, two numbers that frame the gap between how the Storm have been defended and how they have been priced.
Injury Report at Moda Center
Seattle listed Taina Mair, Jordan Horston, and Ezi Magbegor as out. Mair’s absence came because of a coach’s decision, Horston was out with an undisclosed issue, and Magbegor was sidelined by a foot injury. For Portland, Holly Winterburn was day-to-day with a foot injury and Karlie Samuelson was day-to-day with an abductor injury.
That leaves Wednesday’s game built around the available scoring rather than the missing names. Hiedeman’s scoring pace and Fam’s minutes load give Seattle the clearest path to production, while Portland’s 111.3 Defensive Rating and recent 92.4 points allowed per game give the Fire a defense that has already been leaking points.
For bettors and anyone tracking the game flow, the 3.5-point spread and the two teams’ recent form point to a matchup where Seattle’s offense has to do the work. If the Storm are going to end the skid at Moda Center, the pressure sits on Hiedeman to stay above her season average and on Fam to keep carrying the minutes Seattle has been asking for.
