Toronto's first WNBA game is no thing of beauty, but sellout crowd finds plenty to cheer
TORONTO (AP) — The Toronto Tempo didn’t treat fans to beautiful basketball in their inaugural game, but they managed to keep it close all the way to the final buzzer.
Shakira Austin made four free throws down the stretch and the Washington Mystics held on to beat the Tempo 68-65 on Friday night, disappointing a sellout crowd of 8,210 at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
“It was a great moment,” Tempo coach Sandy Brondello said. “Sad that we didn’t win the game, didn’t close it out, but the fans were fantastic. It was a very ugly game. Hopefully they get way prettier than that as we move forward.”
The Tempo shot 5 for 25 from long range and finished with 10 assists on 17 baskets.
“We were poor on offense,” Brondello said. “We didn’t share the ball, we didn’t play as a team as much as we would have liked.”
Brittney Sykes scored the first points in Tempo history on a pull-up jumper in the first quarter but went 0 for 5 from distance, missing a 3 with 14 seconds left that would have given Toronto the lead.
One of the loudest cheers came when Canadian soccer star Christine Sinclair was shown on the video screen.
Almost as loud was the reaction when Marina Mabrey’s 3-pointer with 4:19 remaining in the fourth put Toronto up 57-56, its first lead of the second half.
“To have them have our back, cheering for us every time we figure it you, it kind of helps us feel like we’re getting something going," Mabrey said.
The Tempo finished with 16 turnovers.
“We’ve just got to execute a little bit better with how we want to play,” Brondello said.
The Tempo get another chance at their first win when they host the Seattle Storm on Wednesday night.
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