The Toronto Tempo hope a change in venue improves their fortunes Friday night when they host the Portland Fire at Vancouver.
The Tempo (10-25) lost their 12th straight on Wednesday, 93-82 on the road against the Washington Mystics and are officially eliminated from playoff contention.
They will play again at Vancouver against the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday as they try to showcase the league across Canada. They split a pair of home games at Montreal in July.
The Fire (15-20) are coming off an 88-85 road win against the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday for their second consecutive victory and fourth in five games.
The Tempo were without some key players Wednesday, including guards Marina Mabrey (hamstring) and Brittney Sykes (foot injury management), and forwards Maria Conde (calf) and Nyara Sabally (calf). Conde, Mabrey and Sabally have been ruled out for Friday’s game.
Rookie Kiki Rice led Toronto scorers with 19 points and Aneesah Morrow had 13 points and eight rebounds. The Tempo were outscored 22-9 in the second quarter but held their own for the rest of the game.
“I think these are all lessons, they’re not failures,” Tempo coach Sandy Brondello said. “They’re lessons as we prepare for the big picture. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to evaluate us at full strength, but we’ve been able to evaluate individual talent.”
Portland is 2-0 in meetings between the first-year teams.
The Fire won the last meeting, 97-83 at home on Aug. 6, with Carla Leite recording 27 points and 11 assists. Leite leads the Fire in both categories this season, averaging 15.7 points and 6.2 assists.
Portland won the first meeting 99-80 at Toronto on May 23.
Canadian Bridget Carleton, a native of Chatham, Ontario, is second on the Fire with an average of 14.5 points and leads the team with 1.5 steals per game.
Portland coach Alex Sarama is touting Carleton for the award as the WNBA’s most improved player.
“I just want to push the case for BC for most improved player of the year,” Sarama said at a news conference. “I think if people start diving into the records, BC’s one of six players in league history where her usage has doubled to this rate, and the incredible thing is she’s actually more efficient than she was in Minnesota.”
Carleton, 29, played seven seasons with the Minnesota Lynx before the Fire made her the No. 1 pick in the expansion draft.
In Minnesota, she averaged 5.8 points, setting a career-best 9.6 in 2024.
–Field Level Media
