For the first time this WNBA season, a pair of teammates scored 30+ points each in a game. That duo was the Toronto Tempo’s Marina Mabrey and Brittney Sykes.
The team’s “million-dollar backcourt” (they were the first backcourt pair to sign $1 million contracts under the WNBA’s new CBA) scored 30 and 31 points, respectively, to help the Tempo secure the win on Tuesday night against the Phoenix Mercury. It was the first back-to-back wins in Tempo franchise history.
The 98-90 road victory came despite Toronto being down multiple key players against a Mercury team that was in the WNBA Finals just last season.
“Coach [Sandy Brondello] does a great job with the ‘next man up’ mentality,” Sykes said after her second consecutive 30+ point performance.
The team has been without starting centre Temi Fagbenle since their season opener after she suffered a shoulder injury. Forward Isabelle Harrison has been out with a hand injury sustained during training camp. Starting point guard Julie Allemand injured her hip during Friday’s game against the LA Sparks, and forward/centre Nyara Sabally was a late scratch today with a neck injury.
“We have who we have, and when someone goes out for a bit, the next person is willing and able to do their job,” Sykes continued.
Not only were the Tempo without several key players, but the Mercury also had several Olympians, champions, and future Hall of Famers on their squad. Perennial MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas was held to 17 points in the game, while the 2021 WNBA Finals MVP Kahleah Copper scored a team-high 18 points for the Mercury.
“I think it’s just a confidence booster,” Mabrey said about winning against a team with as much talent as the Mercury. “You have to give credit to the players on the other team, but [we have] confidence in ourselves and the people in our locker room.”
“They have future Hall of Famers, but so do we,” Sykes added.
After scoring a career-high 38 points on Sunday against the Los Angeles Sparks, Sykes followed that performance up in Phoenix with 31 points, seven rebounds, and six assists while shooting 10-for-19 from the field.
Mabrey scored a season-high 30 points, and added five rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block to her stat line while making six three-point shots.
“I think our coaches have been really great with me, encouraging me to be aggressive and shoot my threes,” Mabrey said after the game. “My teammates chase after the rebounds, they’re always giving it back, looking for me, trying to screen. I appreciate them, because it’s a lot of hard work.”
“In the offseason, I put in a lot of time and effort into slowing down and footwork,” Mabrey continued.
It was Sykes and Mabrey, along with rookie point guard Kiki Rice, who combined to score 76 of the Tempo’s 98 total points. Rice got her second career start on Tuesday night, continuing to fill in for Allemand, and finished the game with 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and shot 5-for-7 from the field.
Before the game, Brondello noted that a key to winning this game would be rebounding the basketball. Even with their tallest players out of the lineup, the Tempo were able to out-rebound the Mercury 35-32, and 27-24 on the defensive end. The team’s top rebounders were Sykes and Rice, with each guard having seven rebounds in the game.
“Kiki is an exception,” Brondello said about the rookie, “she plays like she’s been in the league for so long.”
The Tempo are now 3-2 on the season, with two of those wins coming on the road against tough opponents. Before the season, the team was projected to win just 15 of its 44 total games. Though they don’t see themselves as underdogs, they can understand the expectations people have for expansion teams.
“I think teams look at us as being a new team rather than who is on the team,” Sykes said. “[Mabrey and I] are both players who probably didn’t get our fair share of shine and acknowledgement throughout our careers.”
“I don’t see us as underdogs,” Sykes continued. “Others might, we’re probably two of the most ‘don’t want to see’ players, both on the court at the same time. Fun for whoever has to figure that out.”
Toronto has one game left on this extended road trip, against Minnesota on Thursday, before returning to Toronto to play Portland on Saturday. It’s their second-longest road trip of the season, and at the very least, they will come out of it with an even 2-2 record.
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