Marina Mabrey scored 30 points and Nyara Sabally had the winning points and a key late rebound as the Toronto Tempo outlasted the New York Liberty 93-91 on Sunday afternoon in Montreal, Canada.
It was the second of two games for the expansion Tempo in Montreal and followed a 108-95 loss to the Dallas Wings on Friday that drew a regular-season WNBA record of 20,996. On Sunday, attendance was 12,724 in the Bell Centre as Toronto snapped a four-game losing streak and sent the Liberty to their third consecutive setback.
The Tempo (10-13) led by eight points at halftime and by 16 after three quarters thanks to a dozen points from Mabrey in that period. New York clawed back to within 84-80 after a driving layup by Sabrina Ionescu with 5:34 to play and pulled to within 90-89 when Breanna Stewart hit two free throws with 2:23 left.
Mabrey then hit a technical free throw before Stewart tied the game at 91 on a jumper with 1:30 remaining. Sabally followed with a tough layup with 53 seconds left and grabbed a rebound on the defensive end after a missed 3-pointer by Ionescu.
Stewart missed a contested hook shot with 9 seconds left, and the Tempo’s Julie Allemand grabbed the rebound and passed the ball out of the paint, allowing Toronto to escape with the victory.
Laura Juskaite added 18 points for the Tempo with Maria Conde scoring 15, Sabally tallying 13 and Allemand recording 10 assists.
Ionescu scored 28 points to lead the Liberty (13-11). Stewart had 22, Pauline Astier finished with 14 points and Jonquel Jones finished with 10 points and 10 boards
The Tempo utilized a 12-2 surge punctuated by a 3-pointer by Juskaite with 2:48 left in the first half to go up 44-34. A free throw by Mabrey for a flagrant foul was answered by a 3-pointer by Ionescu at the 1:08 mark of the second quarter. Jones’ cutting layup with 27 seconds left pulled the Liberty to within 47-39 at the break.
Ionescu’s 13 points led all scorers before halftime; she was the only New York player in double-figure scoring in the first half. Juskaite had 12 points to pace the Tempo while Mabrey and Conde added 10 points each.
–Field Level Media
