April 30, 2026 – The Seattle Storm defeated renewed Pacific rivals the Portland Fire 91-81 in an exciting pre-season opener in front of 8,627 fans at Climate Pledge Arena Wednesday night.
Flau’jae Johnson was Seattle’s high scorer with 20 points. Post game the rookie mentioned what an honor it was to meet Storm legend Sue Bird, who had visited the team recently during training camp.
Zia Cooke finished her Seattle debut with 19 points and sophomore starter Dominique Malonga had an exceptional showing with 11 rebounds and 10 points.
On the Fire’s side Luisa Geiselsoder led Portland with 15 points followed by Sarah Ashlee Barker with 14. The Fire will hold their home opener on May 9th.
Storm fans gave an ear piercing welcome to Boston native, Taina Mair, who earned five assists, two points and three rebounds in her 12 minutes on the Storm home court.
The first round pick from Duke made two field goal attempts and showed focus landing her two free throw attempts. Mair’s defense was an annoyance to the Fire’s guards causing several missed attempts at the basket.
Post Game Roster News
Thursday morning the Storm announced changes to the team’s roster ahead of the May 8th season home opener waiving guards Jalyn Brown, Elle Ladine and forward Beatrice Mompremier.
Brown played 4 minutes and 23 seconds in the late half making one field goal attempt and earned one offensive rebound.
UW hoop star, Elle Ladine, had 6:23 of play time landing one of her signature 3 pointers.
Mompremier played the least amount of time of any players with 2:18 and did not earn any points.
SEATTLE GAME STATUS REPORT:
Jordan Horston – OUT, left knee injury
Ezi Magbegor – OUT, right foot injury
Katie Lou Samuelson – OUT, right knee injury
Awa Fam – Not With the Team
UP NEXT: The 2026 regular season debut starts on Friday, May 8 vs the Golden State Valkyries at 7 p.m. Pacific at Climate Pledge Arena.
Watch: ION
Upcoming road games: Connecticut Sun on May 10, the Toronto Tempo on May 13 and the Indiana Fever on May 17.
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