by Sarah Maat

“I remember this game like it happened yesterday,” Laura Juskaite said during her exit interview.

The Lithuanian rookie had just been asked about the most defining moments of the Toronto Tempo’s inaugural season, and as she thought about Marina Mabrey’s 53-point game she broke into a beaming smile.

“She was doing incredible things,” Juskaite recounted.

The record-tying performance inside of Toronto’s rickety Coca-Cola Coliseum was an undeniable highlight of the first season. It was certainly a career highlight for the star shooting guard who had previously been overlooked, but it meant more than that to the fresh Tempo roster. It was emblematic of the success possible even on a WNBA team north of the border — it helped put Toronto on the women’s basketball map. Although injuries bit into the overall success the expansion franchise found, that moment of greatness still carries weight.

“We could not believe what we were watching,” Isabelle Harrison told the IX Sports when she, too, brought up the 125-point win over the Sparks as a defining moment.

According to the eight-year veteran, planning for the big night on June 25 began three days earlier in Atlanta. Harrison remembers sitting on the bench during that game and watching her squad struggle against the Dream. There, they began plotting how to turn things around.

When they returned to Toronto, change started to happen. Harrison explains how it felt seeing Mabrey knock down nine threes and watching Julie Allemand rack up a career-high 14 assists as the two got the score moving.

“It just felt like oh yeah we’re taking off, and it was such great momentum.”

Of course, Mabrey agreed, “I think the 53 tops everything. That was one of the best nights of my basketball career.”

The Tempo’s inaugural season was littered with record moments of greatness and first-time accolades, but is more easily defined by the injuries that racked up and derailed Sandy Brondello’s optimistic plans for year one.

“[Our team was defined by] going through adversity and still showing up every day,” Julie Allemand said. “No matter what happened, like the injuries. Every time we had someone else, so like it was crazy. Like when you think about it, like when you take some time to think about it, it’s insane.”

https://www.theixsports.com/features/tempo-players-recount-defining-moments-of-inaugural-season/

Trying to watch the NY Atlanta game happening right now but TSN says the broadcast doesn't start until 12PM PST. But the game has already started (at 11AM PST.)

This is the first time I've ever had issues with TSN like this. I thought the games got delayed an hour but it's just TSN not streaming them until an hour after they start

Anyone else or is my TSN just trolling me??

By Maggie Vanoni

The Toronto Tempo’s final game of its debut WNBA season was against the Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.

For former UConn women’s basketball star Kia Nurse, the game was not only a sad goodbye (the Sun relocates to Houston this offseason) to the state that became her second home in college, but it also signified the end of her first season playing for her true home team.

"It was awesome to play that last game in Connecticut, and it brought back a lot of memories," said Nurse in her exit interview. "… Connecticut really set the blueprint for supporting women's sports and women's basketball in particular. ... It’s sad that the organization is leaving, but it's a place where it was truly normal to support women's sports at the highest level, and with everything you had, full heart and soul."

Nurse, 30, grew up about an hour southeast of Toronto in Hamilton, Ontario, and longed for the day when the WNBA would come to Canada. She’s represented her home country on the international stage a handful of times, yet sharing its passion for women’s basketball with the WNBA was an even greater dream.

That’s why she signed with Toronto this offseason – her fourth new team in as many years. The Tempo was one of two expansion teams to join the league this season and one of three in the last two years. To Nurse, it didn’t matter what her role would be. She just wanted to be home.

"All the different identities that make up myself outside of being a basketball player, I was actually able to live in them for all of those months," said Nurse, who was drafted No. 10 overall in 2018 and played her first three years in the league with New York. "I was able to be an auntie to my nephews and go see them. I was able to see my grandparents, be around my friends, and it just adds this different level of calm eventually when you're going through a stressful season or you're going through a stressful part of your job."

Toronto finished its debut season, 11-33, missing the playoffs but tying the Sun for the best odds in this offseason’s Draft Lottery. As injuries rocked the Tempo’s lineup all season, Nurse was one of just two players to play 40 games or more. The former Husky started four games but averaged career-lows in points (5.5), rebounds (1.2), assists (1.0) and minutes (14.3) per game.

While Toronto leaned on stars Brittney Sykes, Kiki Rice, Isabelle Harrison, and Marina Mabrey on the court, Nurse found comfort in a new leadership role.

"I think the biggest thing I learned about myself was that I can take on heavier and bigger leadership roles," said Nurse. "I've always been a leader in a lot of the places that I've been as I've gotten older in my career, but this one asked a little bit more of me, and so I was vocal, I was patient, I was in the midst of all the good and any of the things that needed to be kind of addressed."

While she would have preferred fewer losses, Nurse says one of the biggest wins this season was Canada’s reception of its first WNBA team. The Tempo sold out 15 home games at Coca-Cola Coliseum and drew a WNBA regular-season record 20,996 people to its game at the Bell Centre in Montreal in July. One of Nurse's favorite memories was watching her United States-born teammates learn the Canadian national anthem.

"There's been a lot of excitement around the team coming," Nurse told local media during Toronto's shootaround last week. "You can hear it all and see it all on social media and in the media and whatnot, but then to really actually feel it and see it in person and see all the butts in the seats and all of our fan bases coming out, and we got to travel around Canada, play in Montreal and Vancouver as well, and so to be able to see the outpouring of love for women's basketball and for the Toronto Tempo in particular has been so so special."

She added: "I think the Tempo have done a really good job of setting a really good foundation to continue to grow as an organization. ... Just walking around the streets of Toronto, and you see people in Tempo paraphernalia, like the merch; it's just so much fun to be able to experience all of that as somebody growing up in Canada and having walked around Toronto tons of times and only seeing Raptors gear. This is really really special."

The Tempo is the only professional women's basketball team in Canada, and the WNBA's first franchise outside of the U.S. Canada also has four PWHL teams and soon to be seven NSL (professional women's soccer) teams. Nurse is proud she's played a part in women's basketball's growth in her home country.

"I'm so grateful for what we were able to build and for what this is going to look like for the next generation of young women in Canada and young athletes in Canada, and how special that's going to be," she said.

Standing inside Mohegan Sun Arena during the Tempo’s shootaround last Thursday morning, Nurse reflected on her time as a Husky and her trips to Mohegan Sun Arena. At UConn, Nurse helped lead the Huskies to the 2015 and 2016 national championships and was named the Defensive Player of the Year in 2018. She still remembers the deep women's basketball fandom in Connecticut, like the time she was recognized at a mall in Hartford or how UConn made selling out arenas feel "normal."

"For my eight-year (WNBA) career and my career at UConn, like (12) years pretty much, I've been here (Mohegan Sun Arena) at least once or twice a year, just with all the conference tournaments we played as well. And so, it's sad to see (the Sun) go," said Nurse. "… I've had a lot of really really awesome memories here as a Husky and throughout my WNBA career, and so it is sad that we're gonna not be back here at Mohegan Sun."

Connecticut relocates to Houston this offseason and will be rebranded as the Houston Comets. Nurse said she’ll miss her annual trips to Uncasville.

"It's sad for the fans here in Connecticut," she said. "… I think it's really unique in this state that year-round they've had women's basketball and had successful women's basketball, basically with the Huskies playing, and then in the summertime the Sun. And so, it's a beautiful ending to an incredible run that has been here. And this is one of the main places where women's basketball has really grown, and the love for women's basketball has been so consistent throughout those years. So, it's been really special to see."

This offseason, Nurse will continue her role as an analyst for TSN’s coverage of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors.

"I love being able to do that," she said. "It's a fun way to grow the game in Canada as well, and to show young women that it's a possibility to also sit in a seat for a male sport and be able to talk about it and help other fans digest what's actually happening. I love the broadcast aspect of it too. It gives me an opportunity to be at home."

https://www.ctinsider.com/sports/uconn-womens-basketball/article/kia-nurse-canada-toronto-tempo-wnba-debut-sun-22452736.php

For a WNBA veteran like Toronto Tempo centre Temi Fagbenle, every season can feel like a litmus test on how much love she still has for the game.

And when the season is as challenging as the Tempo’s inaugural campaign, the answer to that question can’t get any clearer.

“I still do have a lot to learn and I’m ready for the challenge,” Fagbenle told media Wednesday in her end-of-season availability.

“It’s kind of lit a fire under me, like, this isn’t the time to lie down and die. It’s the time to stand up and put your best self forward and keep fighting to have your rightful place in this league.”

The Tempo signed the 34-year-old Fagbenle to a reported one-year $1-million (U.S.) contract in the spring, joining guards Marina Mabrey and Brittney Sykes as the highest-paid players on the roster. Part of the appeal was a successful run she’d just had with the Golden State Valkyries in their first year as an expansion team, in which she had helped them reach the playoffs.

Toronto was hoping Fagbenle’s defence and post presence would help them reach the post-season too, but injuries limited her on-court production to averages of 5.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 25 games, 10 as a starter.

The team showed a lot of promise early in the season and hovered around .500 at times, fuelling hopes of a post-season appearance. But they hit a wall and suffered a 12-game losing streak that all but sent them into lottery territory. Their 11-33 overall record tied them with Connecticut Sun for the second worst in the league, only better than the 8-36 Seattle Storm.

Through it all, Fagbenle said she learned to persevere and help her teammates to withstand the challenges of a gruelling season.

“There were a lot of difficult days, so it’s definitely obviously more tough to bring your best on the hard days, and that is the challenge,” she said. “But I just was trying to do what I could to lead by example, and that started with leading by myself and showing up how I know I needed to show up every day, and hopefully that translated to the rookies and some of the younger players.”

Read Full Article - https://www.thestar.com/sports/tempo/toronto-tempo-s-1-million-centre-temi-fagbenle-is-finding-the-good-in-a-tough-season/article_4b3aacf9-889b-4bbb-99f0-267d1ae7c194.html

Since we have our facility being built at Exhibition Place near our home arena...I wonder if this new state of the art practice facility will be comparable to or even rival the Raptors OVO Training Facility? But I love that we are getting our own facility even if it won't be operational until 2028-29

in line here at the open gym/intra squad game, I spotted Matt Devlin about 20 feet away and hollered , “Matty!”
He spotted me, waved, and made his way through the crowd with his outstretched hand. What a gentleman.
I asked my new best friend who was calling the game on TSN with him on Saturday night. He just smiled and said “You’ll be happy. It’s a surprise. You’ll be happy.”

What are your observations on the WNBA playoffs this year?

The Toronto Tempo were about to take a 17-day break from playing WNBA games. It was Aug. 29, a Saturday night in Phoenix, and as losers of their last 16 of 17 games, including a 32-point loss that night, time away could be healing.

Some players, such as Nyara Sabally and Maria Conde, were gearing up for Berlin and the FIBA World Cup, others were readying for a few extra days off the court.

But as the Tempo sat together after the game and basked in yet another loss, it wasn’t about how quickly they could get away from recent disappointment. In that locker room, packing was slow.

Brittney Sykes, who is familiar with the post-loss locker room routine after 10 seasons in the WNBA, has catalogued that evening as a moment that best defines her team and their inaugural season.

“I just remember us all rallying behind each other and just giving each other encouragement and just pouring into each other’s cups,” Sykes said during her exit interview on Saturday.

When 2026 started, these players didn’t know they’d end up on the WNBA’s first international team, yet after four months together, they’d decided on the culture they wanted to have. Amid the losing record, injuries and disappointments, everyone in that room wanted to show up for each other, not hurry to get away.

“(We were) telling each other, as long as we got each other in this room, nothing else matters. As long as we’re happy with each other, nothing else matters,” Sykes said.

“We definitely made that decision in the beginning, but we reiterated it in that moment, and that stood out to me because not a lot of teams are able to do that. … I was really proud of my team.”

READ FULL ARTICLE - https://www.sportsnet.ca/wnba/article/takeaways-from-the-tempos-inaugural-season-injuries-dont-dictate-culture/

My rep is not answering my emails!

They share a 29.5 per cent chance at the No. 1 pick in next April’s draft with the Connecticut Sun, whose franchise has been sold and will move to Houston before the 2027 WNBA season. The original Houston Comets team won the first four championships in WNBA history, and this new version will take on the Comets name as well.

The Tempo’s front office knows exactly what is needed to improve the roster next season, and general manager Monica Wright Rogers was clear about that during Saturday’s exit interviews.

“I think the fact that we have clarity moving forward is really positive,” Wright Rogers said on Saturday. “I’m really happy that there’s not an unknown about what we need, and so I think we just put our heads down and do the work.”

The lack of depth in the team’s frontcourt was clear from training camp, but that problem may not be solved through the draft. It’s an extremely guard-heavy group, and if the Tempo can pick first, there’s no doubt they’ll select JuJu Watkins, a shooting guard, out of USC.

“The draft class is what it is for next year,” Wright Rogers said. “There’s nothing you can really change about it… the positions are what they are.”

With the NCAA’s recent rule change to allow all players five years of eligibility, there is also fear that some 2027 top prospects will opt to return to college another year. It makes projecting the draft order more difficult than usual.

But league sources tell TSN that there is belief that both Watkins and Madison Booker out of Texas will choose to come to the WNBA next summer. The duo are projected No. 1 and No. 2 by many in the upcoming draft.

Booker, a 6-foot-1 forward, wouldn’t completely solve the frontcourt problem for the Tempo, but choosing her at No. 2 would continue to set Toronto up for success in the future. Her efficiency, shot making, and defensive capabilities make her a great fit for the system Toronto is trying to build.

The Tempo need size and defence, clear from their bottom-of-the-league defensive rating in 2026 and the way they were often bullied in the paint by bigger teams. Take the Washington Mystics’ 4-0 sweep of the Tempo this season as an example.

“We need better defence,” head coach Sandy Brondello stated in her exit availability. “We’re not a very good defensive team, so we have to bring some defensive-minded players, and some rim protection would be good.”

Read Full Article - https://www.tsn.ca/wnba/article/tempo-head-into-off-season-with-valuable-clarity/

It was an absolute pleasure covering the team in its first season.

I spent the last week talking to players and executives for this CBC Sports piece. People here might be interested. Best, RD

Had she not gotten injured I think she would have been further in the discussion for WNBA Rookie of the Year but going into next season, what are the expectations for Kiki especially from an offensive standpoint

During their exit interviews today

That’s the post…I just feel like it sounds good and I can’t wait for next year regardless. Get everyone healthy and let’s chase that chip!

I love exit interviews at the end of the season when each player gets a say and they talk about their future.

I’ve read snippets of those from the Mercury and Fire, but nothing from our Tempo yet. I really hope we get to have them. Does anyone have more info on this?

Loved “Setting the Tempo” and would love to watch other WNBA docuseries, but a bunch I find online seem to be restricted to US only :(

If you know of any available to watch in Canada, I would love to hear them! 🫶🏀

A snippet from our most recent game report on tempo.basketball:

Right from the jump, both the Tempo and the Sun understood the brief and rested most of their key players. With the understanding that we were never going to be treated to the highest level of competitive basketball, the good from this game comes from the little moments. 

We saw Teonni Key have some really good defensive moments and Zaay Green highlights capped off the first AND third quarters. Meanwhile, Isabelle Harrison found lots of success with the pick-and-roll.

However, the star of this game for the Tempo was Kiki Rice. Rice once again showcased how unstoppable she is at driving to the basket with her unique combination of speed, force, and strength. She also showed off her post moves, made long-range shots, and she finished off the final game of her rookie season by setting a new career high of 28 points. In hindsight, getting Rice with the sixth overall pick was an absolute heist.

The same issues that have plagued the team all season long reared its head one last time this season. Simply put, the Sun dominated the paint, outscoring the Tempo 54 – 38. In the first half, Aaliyah Edwards muscled her way for offensive rebounds, layups, and trips to the free throw line. In the third, the Sun made a consolidated effort to dump it into the post and find the mismatch. Reegan Beers put on a masterclass of how a pure centre can help your team and why the Tempo sorely needed one this season. 

And yet, all of that doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that the Tempo now share the best lottery odds for the number 1 pick in the 2027 WNBA Draft with the Connecticut Sun. While it is not guaranteed that Juju Watkins declares for the draft, these odds give Toronto plenty of hope for their short-term and long-term future. 

Read the full game report here: https://tempo.basketball/2026/09/tempo-vs-sun-game-report-september-242026/