Paige Bueckers (5) and Arike Ogunbowale (24) of the Dallas Wings high five against the Toronto Tempo during the Wings' first trip to Canada to face the expansion club.Mark Blinch/Getty Images
Paige Bueckers didn’t need one of her gallant fourth-quarter performances to beat the Toronto Tempo on Sunday. The standout put up 22 points in her first WNBA visit to Canada, leading her Dallas Wings to a breezy 89-76 win.
This year’s first-overall draft pick Azzi Fudd added 17 points for Dallas on an afternoon with plenty of fans for both former University of Connecticut stars in the crowd at Toronto’s Coca-Cola Coliseum.
The injury-depleted Tempo (9-11) took the loss, after being idle since an 89-80 home loss to the Phoenix Mercury on June 27. Marina Mabrey led the home team with 19 points and five assists, returning from her one-game absence due to neck spasms. Nyara Sabally added 14 points and Isabelle Harrison scored 13.
Bueckers said while riding to the arena on Sunday, the Wings’ team bus passed a train on which she noticed a fan through the window wearing a Dallas Wings jersey.
She’d see a lot more of that at the stadium. A throng of fans decked in those blue Dallas jerseys – and Bueckers’s UConn college shirts too – were already standing outside Coca-Cola Coliseum two and half hours before game time to see the Wings arrive, waving and calling out to Bueckers and Fudd when they emerged from the bus.
Toronto Tempo finding fans across the country in inaugural season
The fans lined the players’ tunnel hoping to glimpse her running onto the court. Bueckers said the attention is never lost on her. When she was young, the Edina, Minn., native would ride a train to Minnesota Lynx games wearing a Maya Moore jersey.
“It’s crazy to think about like the global reach and what sports can do for your life, and just the support that I’ve had throughout my entire career,” said Bueckers, holding court with local media before the game, as she gets requested to do in nearly every WNBA city the Wings visit.
“I never want to take it for granted, people investing in me, people supporting me, people believing in me.”
It wasn’t the star’s first time playing in Toronto. During her senior season at UConn, the 2023 Huskies visited to play an exhibition game against TMU.
Bueckers, who was the top overall draft pick in 2025, came to Toronto on a scoring tear, having recorded 25 points in her previous three games. Days earlier, the reigning WNBA rookie of the year had solidified her spot among the 10 starters for the WNBA All-Star Game slated for July 25 in Chicago. Bueckers received the most votes (1,045,051) from fans.
Bueckers showed some razzle dazzle at the hoop, at one point dicing through three Tempo defenders to swoop under the hoop and score. Fans swarmed down to the tunnel as she left the court after the game.
Kia Nurse (11) and the Toronto Tempo have dealt with injuries and are missing two key guards in rookie Kiki Rice and Brittney Sykes. The Tempo fell to 9-11 in Sunday's loss to the visiting Dallas Wings.Mark Blinch/Getty Images
“She’s a generational talent,” said Toronto coach Sandy Brondello of Bueckers. “And she’s gonna keep getting better and better. She saves the day and makes so many big shots.”
Dallas (13-8) built such a comfortable lead on Sunday, there was no need for the typical big Bueckers heroics.
The Tempo trailed by as much as 14 points in the first half – before rallying back to within five at half-time. Mabrey already had 14 points after two quarters – scoring deep threes, bullying her way into the paint through contact, while also dishing out to her teammates.
But the Tempo were losing the battle on the boards, once again (outrebounded 42-35 by Dallas this time). Jessica Shepard was big on the boards for the Wings, nabbing 15 rebounds. The home team also continued to struggle with depth, as guards Kiki Rice and Brittney Sykes remained out, while the team was also suddenly missing Temi Fagbenle (who injured her eye a couple of days ago) and Julie Allemand (who had a late issue with her foot). In Toronto’s last game, it was Mabrey suffering an ailment right before tipoff.
“I don’t like these surprises just before the game,” said Brondello, who was left thin at point guard and forced to start Tima Pouye and activate a newly-signed Ornella Bankole.
The Wings slowed Mabrey in the second half, holding her to just five points. The game got out of reach for Toronto.
The Tempo are in the midst of a challenging stretch of games against stiff competition.
They have one more at Coca-Cola Coliseum this week – Wednesday against the Golden State Valkyries – before they go stage their first home games away from Toronto, part of taking Canada’s first WNBA team to different markets across the country.
They’ll hold two contests against premier opponents in Montreal next weekend. Friday, they’ll get a rematch with the Wings, before welcoming the New York Liberty on Sunday, Brondello’s former club, which recently won the Commissioner’s Cup.
The Tempo could make history in Montreal at the Bell Centre, where the capacity is over 22,000, and the team hopes to set a new professional women’s basketball attendance record.