Quick Reaction: Tempo 91, Fever 113

The Toronto Tempo tipped off a three-game road trip on Tuesday, still in search of a signature victory against one of the WNBA’s upper-tier squads this season.

The expansion franchise entered the night with a 7-7 record, with all but one of those victories coming against teams that sat lower than Toronto in the standings. That outlier win came against the Los Angeles Sparks, who also own a 7-7 record and are just one spot higher on the totem pole.

Hence, Tuesday’s matchup against Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever — a team that’s won four of its last five games and has genuine title aspirations — presented yet another measuring stick opportunity for the Tempo. To see if middle-of-the-pack is where they still belong or if there’s a viable path up the leaderboard.

And with a 113-91 loss marred by injuries, the Tempo’s chance to make a bold statement was emphatically shushed.

The early goings on Tuesday had the makings of a tightly contested ball game. While the Tempo continued to struggle up close, with Fever forwards Aaliyah Boston and Monique Billings combining for 12 points and 10 rebounds in the first quarter, they were holding on elsewhere. Clark was kept in relative check early, starting the game 0-of-4 from the field with two turnovers.

Enough time for the Tempo to chip away at what was a six-point deficit following the opening frame, down to 53-50 at halftime. Leading that charge was the duo of Marina Mabrey and Laura Juskaite, who paired up to score 21 of the Tempo’s 30 points in the second quarter. Mabrey also dished a pair of assists in the second, both to Juskiate. First, a high-arcing crosscourt pass from wing-to-wing for a triple, and then a transition feed for a layup up close.

And while Clark eventually broke the seal and put up nine second-quarter points, to go with nine total assists, the Fever guard also went into the break with five of her team’s 11 turnovers.

The Tempo’s momentum was short-lived, however, as Brittney Sykes was forced out of the ball game midway through the third quarter with what appeared to be a non-contact leg injury. The veteran guard was attempting to cut up the right lane when she stumbled to the ground and had to be helped to the locker room. In the midst of losing Sykes and her stabilizing presence, Toronto surrendered a 17-5 run and went into the fourth quarter trailing 85-73.

Sykes’ injury was made worse after it was announced Julie Allemand, who did not take the court in the third quarter, was also ruled out for the rest of the game due to a headache.

Missing their two primary ball-handlers, and already without rookie guard Kiki Rice, the task was simply proved too difficult for Mabrey and French import Tima Pouye, who was thrust into a major second-half role.

The Fever caught fire from deep down the stretch, shooting 9-of-21 (42.9 per cent) from beyond the arc in the second half, and the Tempo did not have the firepower to keep up.

Up next

The Tempo return to action on Friday, visiting the Connecticut Sun for Game 2 of a three-game road trip. It’ll be the second matchup between the cross-conference opponents in under two weeks — Toronto overcame a 14-point deficit to win in overtime last Wednesday.

Toronto Tempo

91 – 113

Indiana Fever

B	Isabelle Harrison 26 MIN, 11 PTS, 8 REB, 2 AST, 3 STL, 4-12 FG, 2-5 3FG, 1-2 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -9 +/- Again, the Tempo are asking a lot of the veteran forward in the absence of Nyara Sabally. And while Harrison didn’t shut down Indiana’s frontcourt players, she made sure to do her part on the other end. Aggressive on the glass and did a good job mixing in multiple looks offensively. She was spacing the floor early, even hitting her second three of the game from above the break, before making a couple of plays in the short-roll.
A-	Laura Juskaite 25 MIN, 19 PTS, 2 REB, 4 AST, 3 STL, 8-11 FG, 2-3 3FG, 1-2 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -8 +/- Great activity on both ends of the floor. The Lithuanian rookie was covering tons of ground on defence, rotating to help at the rim and also stepping into passing lanes. On the offensive end, beyond knocking down her outside shots, she was constantly hustling up the floor in transition, feasting on multiple feeds from Marina Mabrey.

B	Brittney Sykes 19 MIN, 11 PTS, 2 REB, 3 AST, 0 STL, 5-8 FG, 1-1 3FG, 0-1 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, 6 +/- It wasn’t shaping up to be a breakout outing for the veteran guard, but she was providing two-way impact on an efficient scoring output, without commandeering either side of the game. Her lone three of the game was a pull-up from above the break that briefly gave the Tempo just its second lead of the ball game. But than all that was squashed once she left the game with a non-contact injury.
A-	Marina Mabrey 31 MIN, 18 PTS, 1 REB, 7 AST, 2 STL, 7-16 FG, 2-5 3FG, 2-3 FT, 1 BLK, 4 TO, -14 +/- Marina’s resilience tonight was admirable. She was essentially draped by the likes of Lexi Hull the moment she would cross halfcourt. Followed around through screens and 30 feet away from the hoop. And she kept finding ways to be impactful despite the extra attention. Like making plays on defence early, like stripping Makayla Timpson on the first possession of the second quarter. Or through her playmaking, throwing kick-ahead passes in transition to a cutting Laura Juskaite on multiple occasions. But beyond all that, she did it while not giving up on her own offence. She fought through traffic for a couple of tough layups early, which got her going enough to hit some big threes as the game progressed.
Inc	Julie Allemand 11 MIN, 0 PTS, 0 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 0-2 FG, 0-2 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -3 +/- Tough night in the office for the floor general, battling foul trouble all night. She struggled to contain Caitlin Clark on more than one occasion, including getting baited into jumping on a three-point attempt that resulted in three free throws for the Fever. On the plus side, she continued to show a willingness to participate offensively, even if the shots didn’t fall, before she was forced to leave the game with an undisclosed injury.
B+	Maria Conde 31 MIN, 12 PTS, 4 REB, 5 AST, 0 STL, 4-8 FG, 3-4 3FG, 1-1 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -22 +/- The Spaniard has hit a groove offensively over her last three games, hitting her outside looks with greater confidence. She took and made her first long-distance attempt on a nice over-the-shoulder skip pass from Brittney Sykes. Conde was more of a ball-handling guard/wing in Europe and while she’s not been that for the Tempo, there were a couple of bring-up ball-handling possessions in the first quarter, which was a bit of a new wrinkle. Not much materialized early on as she mostly created her own offence out of it, but there was more juice to it as the game progressed and it’s something I’ll be keeping an eye on, especially if the guard rotation is depleted by injuries moving forward.

C+	Teonni Key 11 MIN, 2 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 1-3 FG, 0-1 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -11 +/- Not sure what it’ll take for Teonni Key to see more time on the floor. Her first moments after subbing in she broke up a transition opportunity for a turnover and then later collected a Maria Conde miss and dumped it back in. Asking her to make a game-changing difference against the veteran frontcourt of the Fever would probably be asking too much, but she’s earned the opportunity to try.
D+	Temi Fagbenle 18 MIN, 3 PTS, 5 REB, 1 AST, 0 STL, 1-4 FG, 0-0 3FG, 1-2 FT, 0 BLK, 0 TO, -16 +/- There just has to be more engagement defensively from the biggest frontcourt player. Her first moments after checking in ending with a Fever rim-run up close of a baseline out-of-bounds play. Brittney Sykes was screened off her matchup and Temi Fagbenle wasn’t able to process the need to switch/rotate until the ball had already dropped through the hoop. Her instincts on offense are certainly there, ending up in good spots offensively, even making a handful of positive plays with the ball in her hands, like dishing Sykes for a layup on a back-cut. But it matters less and less with the continual lapses defensively.
Inc	Kia Nurse 15 MIN, 10 PTS, 1 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 3-4 FG, 0-1 3FG, 4-4 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -16 +/- Outside of garbage time, she had more turnovers and fouls (four), than points, rebounds or assists (two).
C+	Tima Pouye 13 MIN, 5 PTS, 2 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 1-7 FG, 1-3 3FG, 2-4 FT, 0 BLK, 1 TO, -17 +/- A tough spot for the young guard, asked to check one of the league’s most dynamic players after Brittney Sykes and Julie Allemand left with injuries. She showed moments of resilience, battling for a couple of tough boards and digging in defensively, but that was as far as her impact reached

B	Sandy Brondello Thought the Tempo's game-plan early was working. There was success during the Caitlin Clark minutes, but that all crumbled once Slim went down and Julie didn't come out in the second half. Not much a coach can do with eight available players.