The Toronto Tempo came into their Wednesday night match with a 6-5 season record; their opponents, the Connecticut Sun, were 2-11. Simple enough on paper, but ultimately a challenge for the Tempo.
It took their biggest comeback of the season, extra time, and a 38-point night from Brittney Sykes to get the 106-102 victory in their first-ever overtime.
“I told [the Tempo] before the game, I said, ‘do not underestimate this team,’” head coach Sandy Brondello said after the game. “They’re very tough, they’re long, they’re physical.”
After starting the game with a lead, the score flipped, and Toronto found themselves down in the second half. They came back, in part thanks to clutch free throws from guard Sykes late in the game.
While she shot, Coca-Cola Coliseum was silent. She ended the game with 13-made free throws and did not miss a single one in the game.
“I hope the fans hear this, never that quiet [again],” Sykes joked after the game. “I believe in the work that I’ve done, but the pin-drop silence… I miss, and you’re gonna hear it all around. If I ever felt anxious, I just was like ‘bro, you’re a 91% free throw shooter, like this is butter.’
“I had a goal at the beginning of the season to get downhill and score from different levels, but to really own the charity stripe – to really show that it’s really hard to stop me from getting to the basket and to the line.”
Another goal Sykes has for the season is to shoot 50/40/90 – 50 per cent from the field, 40 per cent from three, and 90 per cent from the free throw line.
“Got the 90, far away from the 40 right now,” she said. “But hey, still a lot of games.”
Sykes is currently averaging a career-high 21.6 points per game in her 10th season in the WNBA.
Of course, the win is what matters to the team in the end, but Brondello said they still “weren’t happy” with how they played. Still, she praised her team’s resilience.
“I thought their post players created a lot of difficulties for us early, but we hung in there,” Brondello said. “I think our intensity picked up. We got locked in.
“The first and the second quarter weren’t very good at all. I just thought they were pushing the pace. We were not in our position; we were just not playing as a team how we’re supposed to. We put the ball in [Sykes’s] hands a fair bit near the end there, and she made great things happen.”
This is the second time Sykes has scored 38 points in a game this season. The first was in the Tempo’s win against the LA Sparks on May 17. Toronto is undefeated this season when Sykes scored 30+ points in the game.
“She knows I have her back,” Brondello said of Sykes. “I gave her a look a few times and complimented her on certain things. You know, I’m pretty calm. It probably helps her, because sometimes she’s not so calm.
“I think she’s controlled her emotions. She just poured it all into being the best she could tonight, and I think that was great.”
All of these games are part of the in-season Commissioner’s Cup tournament. The Tempo are now 2-1 in the tournament, and have raised $7,000 USD for Lay-Up Basketball, their local charity partner, so far. They are still sitting behind Atlanta (3-1) and New York (3-0) in the Eastern Conference Cup standings. All games until June 17 count towards the tournament.
As for the season as a whole, Toronto is now 7-5 on the season. This was the first game in a packed week for the Tempo. After playing a nearly three-hour game into overtime Wednesday, they go on the road Friday in to take on the Washington Mystics.
They’ll be back at home on Sunday to play Angel Reese and the Atlanta Dream.
