The Toronto Tempo played their second game in Vancouver on Sunday against the Las Vegas Aces, but not before getting some unfortunate news about two of their players.
Before the game, head coach Sandy Brondello confirmed that both Brittney Sykes and Aneesah Morrow will miss the rest of the season with injuries.
“Sykes and Morrow are ruled out for the rest of the season, so that’s unfortunate,” Brondello said before the game. “Marina will be evaluated in a few weeks. Unsure if she’ll play the rest of the season too. So pretty tough luck this year.”
Sykes spent 18 games out this season with a plantar fascia injury in her left foot that she suffered in June during a game. She returned to the lineup last Tuesday against the Indiana Fever, and was set to play her second game back on Friday against Portland. In the first quarter, she hurt that same foot again and exited the game, but Brondello confirmed it was a new injury and not a re-injury of the original one.
Shortly after Sykes left Friday’s game, Morrow was hurt in an on-court collision and suffered a knee injury. The Tempo confirmed that neither Sykes nor Morrow need surgery for their injuries and will make full recoveries – but not in time to return to play this season. Since their evaluations proved they would have been healthy for the playoffs if the Tempo had made it, the league will not award them a rest-of-season hardship player.
“I’ve had some seasons for sure, but yeah, it feels like it’s just keeps coming,” Tempo assistant coach Carly Clarke said of the amount of injuries the team has suffered this season. “It’s been something we’ve been dealing with all season, so I feel like we’re pretty used to to it. Our players are really used to being adaptable and and being ready for some different scenarios.”
That meant the Tempo only had eight available players going into Sunday’s game against the Aces. Mabrey (adductor), Maria Conde (calf), and Nyara Sabally (calf) joined Sykes and Morrow on the injury report, and the Tempo activated development player Ornella Bankole. Their number of players would drop to seven, though, as Julie Allemand exited the game at halftime with a head injury.
“Julie hit her head on the floor where she went for that steal, and they’re still evaluating her, so I think it’s just being safe,” Brondello said after the game.
The Tempo will also soon lose more players, as Conde, Allemand, and Sabally are set to join their international teams for the FIBA Women’s World Cup this week. With no hardship player set to join the team, the Tempo’s roster could be down to six for their back-to-back games in Las Vegas and Phoenix next weekend. Bankole also only has four more games left on her development contract after Sunday’s game.
“I learn a lot next to these girls, they teach me a lot about this league,” Bankole said about her time with the Tempo this season. “It’s really high level, and I think I’m trying to adapt, they help me.”
The players the Tempo did have worked to keep up with the three-time champion Las Vegas Aces, but the Aces pulled away in the fourth quarter. Las Vegas took the game 88-78, bringing the Tempo’s season record to 11-26 on the season.
Canada’s own Kia Nurse led the Tempo with 19 points off the bench, with four rebounds and four assists. Kiki Rice had 14 points, five assists, three rebounds, one steal, and one block.
“There’s just so much excitement around women’s sports in Vancouver right now, it’s exciting to be able to see that,” Nurse said. “They were loud, they were excited, they were right into it.”
This second game in Vancouver drew a crowd of 15,877 fans to Rogers Arena, up from Friday’s attendance. It was the last game of the Cross Canada series, bringing Tempo hoops to new fans across Canada.
The Tempo will now have a few days off before they continue a road trip through the West Coast this week. They’ll play Seattle on Wednesday, and then play their second back-to-back in two weeks this weekend against Las Vegas and Phoenix. Then the team will go on a two-week break for the FIBA Women’s World Cup.
