With a four-game losing streak behind them, the Toronto Tempo will be out to gather some momentum Tuesday night when they host the Washington Mystics.
The Tempo (10-13) held on to defeat the New York Liberty 93-91 on Sunday in their second of two home games played at Montreal.
The Mystics (11-10) are coming off an 84-79 home win over the Seattle Storm on Sunday and have a pair of victories over the Tempo this season.
The Tempo took a 16-point lead into the fourth quarter Sunday against the Liberty.
New York tied the game with 1:30 remaining before Toronto’s Nyara Sabally made what proved to be the game-winning layup with 52.5 seconds left. The Liberty missed a pair of shots in the final 41 seconds.
Sabally finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.
“It was a little scary there in the fourth,” Tempo coach Sandy Brondello said. “This team is resilient. .., We hung in there and found a way to win. So proud of the group. We deserve it. We’ve been in so many games, so it’s nice to get a win.”
Marina Mabrey scored 30 points to lead the Tempo and has averaged a career-best 21.6 points.
“I think (Brondello) holding me accountable is probably the biggest thing,” Mabrey said of her jump in offensive production during her eighth WNBA season. “Just because she’s really challenging me.”
Laura Juskaite added 18 points for Toronto and Maria Conde scored 15. Julie Allemand contributed four points and 10 assists.
Shakira Austin scored 10 of her 27 points in the fourth quarter in the Mystics’ victory, while Kiki Iriafen added 12 points and 13 rebounds. Sonia Citron had 19 points in her return after missing the previous two games.
Austin had a slow start against the Storm, shooting 1-for-3 from the field with a turnover in the first quarter. She had a layup blocked in the first minute of the game and later in the quarter missed another layup.
“I didn’t want to let that stop me from being aggressive,” Austin said. “It’s so easy to just kind of get down.”
She feels that the team is improving.
“As the season has gone on, we’ve just got better, more mature at finishing games,” Austin said.
“She’s been a really consistent leader for us through the entire season,” said reserve Lauren Betts, who had 11 points, two steals and one block.
Mystics coach Sydney Johnson praised Austin’s development.
“Her growth as a player, I don’t know what to tell you, it’s amazing,” he said. “There’s also growth not only skill-set wise and stuff that we’re doing in the gym, but also just her maturity and being able to have a slower start and to keep playing and to level-set, they are all part of growing as a player.”
–Field Level Media
