The Toronto Tempo will now have 19 days before their next game – and they need the time off. Toronto’s WNBA team went into the second night of their back-to-back on Saturday night in Phoenix missing six of their rostered players.
Those who were on the court have been playing more minutes over the past few weeks, leading to an exhausted effort against Phoenix. The Mercury won 101-69, clinching the season series over the Tempo 2-1.
It wasn’t the Tempo’s lowest-scoring game of the season, but this 32-point deficit ties for the most points the Tempo have lost by this season. The last time was their 32-point loss to the Minnesota Lynx on July 30.
Isabelle Harrison led the Tempo in scoring with 16 points, with 10 rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block. Rookie Kiki Rice scored 14 points with four rebounds, five assists and one steal.
“We’re very happy to have Kiki on this team,” coach Brondello said on Saturday of her rookie. “She does a bit of everything, and she’s only going to keep going. She’s getting so many different experiences now.”
You see her stat sheet at the end; it’s always pretty good. She takes high-quality shots. She’s rebounding. She’s assisting. She’s defending. She’ll be unhappy with some of her turnovers today, but she’s still young; she’s learning.”
Going into this back-to-back against Las Vegas and Phoenix, the Tempo were missing three players to injury and three to temporary absences due to the FIBA World Cup. Brittney Sykes (foot) and Aneesah Morrow (knee) will not return this season due to their injuries. Marina Mabrey (adductor) will be re-evaluated and could return in the Tempo’s four final games after the World Cup.
Maria Conde (Spain), Julie Allemand (Belgium), and Nyara Sabally (Germany) are all temporarily suspended to join their international teams ahead of the World Cup. Due to all of this, the Tempo had to sign Kianna Williams to a 7-day emergency hardship contract and activate both their development players for both games this weekend.
This near three-week break for those not participating in the World Cup could not come at a better time for this team. They have not played a single game all season with a clear injury report, and the last few weeks have been especially hard on the team. The players who have had to step up in recent games were playing limited minutes before this. The rest and reset this break will give the team will surely help boost morale going into the final games of the season.
“I’m looking forward to this break; I know everybody is,” Tempo forward Isabelle Harrison said in Phoenix. “To get healthy, get some rest, because we all know we’re really limited right now.”
Despite being eliminated from the playoffs already, the Tempo still have four games to play on the other side of the World Cup break. Those games will not only close out the celebration of the franchise’s first-ever season, but also serve as one last chance to evaluate talent going into the offseason.
With free agency and a lottery draft pick incoming for the Tempo in 2027, this roster could look extremely different when the team tips off next year.
For now, though, the players not playing in the World Cup will get about seven-to-eight days completely off to rest. Friday night in Vegas, Canadian Kia Nurse said that she will be spending the time off at home recharging – Canada did not qualify for the FIBA World Cup this year.
After that, Tempo assistant coach Brian Lankton will lead those around in development and training as the rest of their team makes it back from Berlin, Germany. Head coach Sandy Brondello leaves to join her Australian Opals Sunday night, while associate head coach Olaf Lange, who leads Team Germany, is already in Berlin.
“Going home, getting your rest, and just kind of taking a break from basketball, sometimes you do need to step away for a while just to get your mind together,” Harrison said of what she’s encouraging her teammates to do during the break. “It is a stressful season; we’ve been going through a lot of adversities.”
“[I’ll be] staying engaged, checking in on them while they’re gone, and just looking forward to when we come back together,” Harrison continued. “Just staying ready when we come back from this break and finish these four games and finish the season on a strong note.”
