The Toronto Tempo will be without their head coach as they try to snap out of a funk Monday at home against the Las Vegas Aces.
Sandy Brondello will serve a one-game suspension without pay for what the league deemed was an inappropriate comment she made about Atlanta star Angel Reese during Friday’s game. Associate head coach Olaf Lange will handle head-coaching duties against the Aces.
Brondello apologized on social media and Reese accepted the apology for the incident, which stemmed from Brondello calling Reese a “protected species” after a foul call. Brondello admitted the remark had an unintended racial connotation, which differs from how the term is used in her native Australia.
Toronto (10-15) has had trouble on the court as well, losing six of the last seven games and falling 2 1/2 games behind the playoff hunt. On Friday, the Tempo fell 111-92 at home to Atlanta after trailing by just a point at halftime.
“I think we were still in the locker room at the start of the third (quarter),” Brondello said. “We were just not very locked in and very intentional.
“They got some easy baskets, and then we lose our focus a little bit, so that’s the disappointing part.”
Marina Mabrey scored 26 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, while reserve Nyara Sabally added 16 points. Sabally sustained a minor rib injury in the process and was limited to just 21 minutes. She was ruled out Sunday for Monday’s contest.
Meanwhile, the Aces (17-7) have had plenty of time to dwell on their polarizing last two performances.
After beating Phoenix 106-58 on July 11, the Aces experienced an 82-point swing, losing 109-75 to Indiana the following day. They shot 50.6% and tallied five players in double-figure scoring against the Mercury, only to tumble to 39.1% and just two double-digit scorers at home against the Fever.
Las Vegas was paced by A’ja Wilson’s 20 points and 12 rebounds in the loss to Indiana. Fellow All-Star Jackie Young added 15 points, but that was about all of the good news for the Aces, now two games off the pace for the WNBA lead behind Minnesota and second-place Golden State. The Aces have dropped two of their last four games and are 5-3 since their 12-4 start.
“I thought we were lousy from the jump,” said Aces coach Becky Hammon after the loss. “A lot of it is effort and maybe we just didn’t have the juice today.”
The Aces had played three games in four days, and Hammon conceded, “Every team has a rough patch in the schedule where it’s just difficult.” A seven-day stretch with no games could help make that challenge a bit easier for the Aces.
–Field Level Media
