Fire’s Emily Engstler is for real and A’ja Wilson just found out why originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Emily Engstler is leading the WNBA in blocks.
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Few would have bet on that before the season started. Engstler’s WNBA career appeared to be hanging by a thread, as the former fourth overall draft pick had played for three teams in four seasons and had been left unprotected in April’s expansion draft.
But Engstler has found new life in Portland as part of a feisty Fire team.
MORE: WNBA awards tracker all but confirms who has emerged as A’ja Wilson’s biggest MVP threat
Though the Fire lost to the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces on Thursday night, Engstler got on the highlight reel with a thunderous block on league MVP A’ja Wilson.
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Engstler’s ferocious help-side block on Wilson was one of two blocks she recorded in Thursday’s 105-89 defeat. It took her total to 29 for the season — one more than Wilson, though the Aces superstar is averaging more blocks per game.
Engstler’s career resurgence has seen her become one of the most feared defenders in The W. The 6’1” forward has recorded 24 percent of her career block total in just 14 games this season; it’s not hard to imagine where the Fire, 14th out of 15 teams in defensive rating, would be without her.
Moreover, Engstler is shooting 46 percent from the floor and 38.5 percent from 3-point range, blending more-than-adequate offensive production with her elite block rate.
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The Fire’s front office, led by general manager Vanja Cernivec, has found a good player in Engstler — who might finally have a WNBA home after stints with the Indiana Fever, the Minnesota Lynx and the Washington Mystics.
