Sarah Ashlee Barker, the Portland Fire guard, injured her left knee in a fall early in the first quarter in the Fire’s game against the Dallas Wings on Wednesday, 22nd July, 2026, at the Moda Center in Portland.
Barker tumbled out of bounds in the free-throw lane and hit the floor hard after making an assist to teammate Frieda Buhner, who converted a 3-point jumper off the pass. The guard gripped her left knee in pain, unable to get off the ground, and was helped off the court by the Fire’s training staff.
Before her injury, Barker made a single basket and had two assists in a little over four minutes of play. The 24-year-old, who last played for the Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA before joining the Fire this year, came into the game averaging 11 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists this season.
Past Injury Concerns
Barker’s Achilles heel is her left knee, if that makes sense. The Fire guard was diagnosed with osteochondritis dissecans in eighth grade, a medical condition that restricts mobility due to disrupted blood flow beneath the cartilage in her knee.
But the diagnosis hasn’t yet stopped her rise to the pro level. Her path to the pros included a collegiate career at Georgia and Alabama, followed by being a 9th overall pick by the Los Angeles Sparks in the 2025 WNBA draft.
Her injuries, although not major, included a lower leg injury against the University of Florida and a right quad contusion in June. She also missed the game against the Atlanta Dream in July due to undisclosed reasons.
How the Fire Fared Against the Wings
Coming into the game, the Dallas Wings were expected to dispatch of the Portland Fire. But as the WNBA All-Star Break loomed on the horizon, the Fire put up a tougher fight than expected. The last time these sides met was on June 13th at the Moda Center for a Commissioner's Cup game, which the Fire won 84-83 in a close encounter to break their four-game losing streak.
The game on Wednesday wasn’t as tight, but the Portland side always stayed close to the Wings and, in the end, came up short in a 101-97 loss. The Dallas team visited Portland after a close 99-98 loss to the New York Liberty. Wings took time to settle into the game and ended the first quarter with a narrow 18-17 lead.
The Dallas defense allowed Fire to come back into the game repeatedly. Dallas superstar Paige Bueckers, who missed the last game after she slammed her head in the fourth quarter after a collision with Nneka Ogwumike of the Los Angeles Sparks, played against the Fire.
Bueckers scored 21 points and had five assists, with her performance key for the Wings’ four-point win. After her first 3-pointer gave them an 18-15 lead with close to a minute left in the first quarter, she followed with other vital plays, such as a nifty drive through traffic that ended with a neat scooping layup to put Dallas ahead 38-35. On the next run up on the opposition half, Bueckers’ quick hands led to an assist for Awak Kuier, who sprinted to the basket to make it a five-point game.
But the Fire grew into the game in the last two minutes of the half, as they scored 7-0 to take a 42-40 lead into the halfway mark. Wings came out guns blazing in the third quarter as Ogunbowale came alive for the visitors after a quiet first half. She hit back-to-back threes to wrestle the lead back, 47-46, within a minute into the third.
The third quarter woke up the attacking prowess of the Dallas outfit, which scored 36 points in return to Fire’s 27, with 23 of the 36 points coming from the Ogunbowale-Bueckers duo. This gave the side a comfortable 76-69 lead going into the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter saw the Wings extend the lead to double digits for the first time all night with an 83-73 lead and later a 12-point lead.
The Portland fight wasn’t done; multiple 7-0 runs to 91-88, and later 99-90. But in the end, the Wings had too much firepower and won 101-97, with Ogunbowale top-scoring with 24 points and center Jessica Shepard completing her fourth triple-double of the year.
