Toronto Tempo’s historic WNBA debut ends in 68-65 loss

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The atmosphere was electric, and the music was pumping in the sold-out Coca-Cola Coliseum for Toronto Tempo’s first inaugural regular season game in the WNBA on Friday, May 8. The Tempo faced off against the Washington Mystics. Unfortunately, despite the excitement from the crowd, the Tempo lost the game with a final score of 68-65 for the Mystics.

This game was one many Canadians had been waiting years for, since the Dec. 2024 announcement that Toronto would be getting a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) team.

Brittney Sykes made history by scoring the first basket for the Tempo; she scored 27 points during the game.

Winning the game was in reach for the Tempo as the clock counted down in the 4th quarter.

With less than 18 seconds to go in the 4th quarter, the Tempo were up by one to the Mystics, but a foul by Toronto’s Nyara Sabally sent the Mystics to the free throw line, where Shakira Austin sank both baskets, giving Washington the lead.

Less than 9 seconds later, with 10 seconds left in the game, the referees called a foul on Laura Juskaite, which sent Austin back to the line, where she made two more points for her team, giving them the win.

Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello told reporters after the game that it was “sad” they did not win, but added that the fans were incredible.

“It was a very ugly game. Hopefully, they get way prettier than that as we move forward,” Brondello said. “I think we didn’t share the ball, we didn’t play as a team as much as we would have liked. But that’s an easy fix. We just got to get back to, you know, being a selfless basketball team and making our defence create our offence.”

Several players from the Toronto Sceptres, including Blayre Turnbull, Emma Malais and Daryl Watts, attended the game. Toronto Raptors Immanuel Quickley and Sandro Mamukelashvili, former Raptors Serge Ibaka, and Canadian soccer star Christine Sinclair were also in attendance.

The WNBA is celebrating its 30th season this year. The league has 15 teams – seven in the Eastern Conference and eight in the Western Conference.

Toronto’s next game is Wednesday (May 13) at home against Seattle Storm at 4 p.m. PT., 7 p.m. ET.