When a team is in the midst of a league-worst 10-game skid, stumbling toward the finish line with few signs of stabilizing, the situation quickly becomes about finding meaning beyond the scoreboard.
Because at 10-23 following a 94-88 loss to the Dallas Wings on Wednesday, the Toronto Tempo are well out of the playoff mix, to the point that checking the — reverse — standings these days has become more about identifying lottery odds.
And for those wondering, the 13th-seeded Tempo are in firm control of the third-best odds (16 per cent) at this point and making a great case to eventually catch the Chicago Sky and claim a 24 per cent shot at the No. 1 pick.
But what about the 11 regular-season games remaining between now and when the ping-pong balls drop? What’s there to focus on aside from the “sim lottery” button on Tankathon?
Well, with only three of 14 rostered players signed beyond 2027, one way to view these next couple of games is figuring out who ought to stick with this roster long term.
Say, Kiki Rice, for example. The rookie was just taken sixth overall by the Tempo with their first-ever draft pick a couple of months ago, so her future with the franchise wasn’t exactly in doubt, but she’s continued to demonstrate why she was so highly touted coming off a national title run with UCLA.
The 22-year-old made her first start since returning from injury against the Wings on Wednesday and began making an immediate impact on both ends of the floor. For starters, acting as the primary defender on Paige Bueckers, Rice helped hold the Wings superstar to an 0-of-7 from the field before the break — the first time in the former No. 1 overall pick’s career she’d gone scoreless in an opening half.
“That’s why we think so highly of Kiki,” Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello said of the rookie guard post-game. ” … Defensively, I thought she did a great job on Paige. She has that physical strength, she can get over screens, she has high IQ and all those things matter. We think the world of Kiki and we’re going to keep developing her.
And although Rice didn’t guard Bueckers for all seven of those misses, she did well on the shots she did contest. Like forcing an airball on a mid-range fadeaway right before the halftime buzzer to contain the Tempo’s deficit to 45-37 at the break.
She also chipped in 13 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals in 31 minutes of action before leaving the game midway through the fourth quarter due to a leg injury, joining Nyara Sabally, who was ruled out earlier with a calf issue.
Rice took an awkward fall after stepping on Odyssey Sims’ foot when driving through the lane and immediately went down in pain before she was helped off the court. Luckily for the Tempo, Rice did eventually come back and finish the game on the bench and Brondello said after the game that the youngster was “okay.”
The Tempo bench boss also added that Rice “wanted to go back in” but the team ultimately decided against it.
And just like Rice showed no quit, so did her teammates as they attempted a valiant but ultimately failed rally down the stretch. Coming back from trailing by as many as 18 points to make it a 90-86 game at the 1:18 mark after Laura Juskaite dug in on an Arike Ogunbowale drive to force a turnover and then ran ahead to finish the transition opportunity with a layup.
The Lithuanian rookie had a solid outing of her own on Wednesday, finishing with 18 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Two of those takeaways came in the final frame, including another strip-and-score layup that highlighted just how the Tempo were able to get back into the game.
Not just shooting 65 per cent from the floor in the fourth — which was largely thanks to a Marina Mabrey heater, hitting three triples for 14 of her game-high 23 points coming in the final 10 minutes — but also holding the Wings to 39 per cent from the field, and forcing three turnovers for four points.
It was one of the Tempo’s better defensive quarters in quite some time, but unfortunately they couldn’t chain together those crucial final stops required. First fouling Ogunbowale on a drive, after which she knocked down both free throws. And then Bueckers, the same one who was scoreless at halftime, calmly dribbled into a mid-range pull-up from the free throw line and hit the dagger a couple of possessions later. The Dallas guard wound up finishing with 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting, proving why she’s considered one of the elite scorers in the WNBA and why it’s difficult to keep her quiet for a full game.
The Tempo wound up allowing 90-plus points for a ninth consecutive game — well above the league average of 87.6 points per game across all teams.
And snapping that streak will only be harder when Toronto returns to action on Tuesday, hosting the Indiana Fever, Caitlin Clark and their No. 1-ranked offence at Scotiabank Arena.
