The injury struggles continue for the Toronto Tempo, but after 12 consecutive losses, the team pulled out an 82-79 Friday night win over the Portland Fire.
Canada’s WNBA team travelled to Vancouver this weekend to play two games on the West Coast for the first time as part of their Cross Canada Series. Spirits were high as the WNBA returned to the city for the second year in a row. Brittney Sykes was the sole player who participated in the 2025 Vancouver game as a member of the Seattle Storm.
“I really appreciate being able to come out here and just continue to build the fan base in Canada,” Sykes said at Friday morning shootaround, “just for the women’s game in general.”
Unfortunately, the joy of Sykes’s return to the court this week after 18 missed games was short-lived. She was injured just minutes into the game and ruled out for the remainder of it shortly after. Then in the second quarter, Aneesah Morrow was injured and needed to be carried off the court. She was later ruled out of the game with a left knee injury.
Despite the losses to two important players, the Tempo stayed in the game and fought with Portland. Both Isabelle Harrison and Kiki Rice stepped up big for the team, playing physically in the post and getting important shots in to keep the Tempo ahead in the clutch.
“I think it’s just the tale of our season,” Tempo forward Isabelle Harrison said. “Players in and out, injuries, whatever the case is, is really messing us up. Our coach told me once, the more you seize those opportunities, the more that come about. I think about that a lot.”
“We may be down, but we’re not out,” she continued. “We are not out, and we keep fighting no matter what’s going on.”
Rice tied her career-high 19 points for the second time this week, adding three rebounds and four assists to her stat line and completing some tough plays for her team in the process.
“I mean, [she’s] a rookie, but not really at this point of the season,” Harrison said of Rice’s big performance after the game. “I feel good when I can pass the ball to Kiki, and I can let her work.”
Harrison scored 25 points to lead the Tempo, adding 10 rebounds, one assist, one block, and one steal. She also scored two clutch free throws in the final minutes of the game to help Toronto secure the three-point victory.
“It’s just me being determined,” Harrison said of her feelings stepping up to the free-throw line with the game on the line. “I wanted that one, we wanted that one, and it showed in our preparation and our focus, and I wanted to be the person to lead that.”
Toronto Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello agreed that the team felt good about this game going into it after 12 losses in a row.
“It was great. We felt good leading into the game,” Brondello said. “I thought we made some decent progress these last two games, and I thought the game plan was good. We want to be really aggressive, and they just bought into it.”
There were over 12,000 fans in Vancouver’s Rogers Arena to cheer on the Tempo. Unlike their games in Montreal and even a few in Toronto, the crowd was decidedly on the side of Toronto for this game – and they were loud.
“I was having flashbacks of Montreal and just how great that crowd was,” Harrison said. “I felt we just had the momentum on our side because all the fans were here. Whenever I pump that crowd up, it’s not just to distract them on the floor, but to get the fans into the game too.”
After the game, Brondello didn’t have any further updates about Sykes and Morrow’s conditions.
“Just praying it’s not anything too serious,” she said. “You really can’t even write about what happened to this team this year.”
While the win on Friday won’t change the fact that they are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, the Tempo have a unique advantage heading into the upcoming draft lottery. The WNBA has confirmed that the Tempo will only have their 2026 record weighed into their draft lottery odds, while every other team (except Portland) will be weighed by the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
Toronto currently has the second-best odds to secure the No. 1 pick in the 2027 WNBA draft, with the presumed best player available being Juju Watkins out of USC.
The Tempo have one day off in Vancouver before welcoming the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday.
