Kiki Rice #1 of the Toronto Tempo controls the ball during the first quarter against the Washington Mystics at Coca-Cola Coliseum on Friday.Michael Chisholm/Getty Images
It may not have been the prettiest basketball game, but a soldout crowd cheered and danced on Friday night in Toronto while witnessing a watershed moment for women’s professional sports in Canada – the inaugural game for the country’s first WNBA expansion team.
Coca Cola Coliseum was spotted with sporting celebrities, from Andre De Grasse to Serge Ibaka, Christine Sinclair and Diana Matheson, all there to see the Toronto Tempo debut.
By the team’s own admission, it was an ugly game with some growing pains on the court. The Tempo lost by a bucket – 68-65 – in an opener that went down to the wire against the Washington Mystics. Toronto’s core player, Marina Mabrey led all scorers with 27 points.
Team owners Larry and Judy Tanenbaum sat courtside, and Masai Ujiri too. A few Toronto Raptors were in the house, and some Toronto Sceptres. There were plenty of dignitaries, from WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert to Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.
The crowd of 8,210 was awash in white as every fan was gifted a white souvenir Toronto Tempo opening night t-shirt.
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A poet laureate opened the night with verse. The team’s sole Canadian, Kia Nurse, took the mic to welcome the crowd, challenging them to make Toronto’s the loudest venue in the league, to prove why Canada has long deserved a WNBA club.
What’s it like to be with a team in a new place, not knowing how it will be embraced, or what the future holds? Toronto’s new coach Sandy Brondello didn’t hesitate to answer.
“I think the future is bright. I already know what it is,” said Brondello, who is embarking on her 27th WNBA season, adding her years as a player and coach.
“If you see the evolution of the WNBA over the last 30 years, it’s quite remarkable… The players are getting paid the right way, and the amount of people that love watching the WNBA. It is a real movement, sponsors, everyone’s getting behind us…it may be even bigger in Canada, because we are Canada’s team.”
Brondello chose a starting lineup of veteran WNBA talent to usher in the new club as they trotted out against the Washington Mystics – Mabrey, Julie Allemand, Brittney Sykes, Nyarra Sabally and Temi Fagbenle.
It was Sykes, better known as “Slim” who dropped the first bucket in Tempo regular season history – a 16-foot pullup jumper.
Sykes had 14 on the night, but Mabrey led the Tempo on 6-of-18 from the field, with a trio of threes.
Brondello used every one of her 12 players, trying to learn more about the players she’s had less than a month. Some arrived from Europe just this week.
Both teams looked shaky opening the new campaign. It was especially tough for both clubs from 3-point range – each shot 20 percent from deep.
Toronto’s players were searching to find one another. They had just 10 assists as a team. With the game on the line, they were clunky with their end-of-game plans and communication.
“Sad that we didn’t win the game. Didn’t close it out, but the fans were fantastic,” said Brondello. “It was a very ugly game. Hopefully they get way prettier than that as we move forward. …we didn’t play as a team as much as we would have liked, but that’s an easy fix.”
Even when the Tempo’s energy waned, the crowd kept dancing.
“They’re carried us energy wise,” said Mabrey. “New team we’re trying to play, trying to figure it out, and have them have our back, cheering for us every time we figure it out. It kind of helps us feel like we’re getting something going.”
Canada’s “First Lady of Basketball” attended Friday’s game – Sylvia Sweeney, 50 years after she captained Canada in the Olympic debut of women’s basketball at the 1976 Montreal Summer Games, another massive moment for the female game.
“It was really the time and the ability to bring women from the college level into a consciousness that they deserved more,” said Sweeney of that era for women’s hoops. “With that consciousness, you get a groundswell of why nots.”
Sweeney was among a group of Canadian female basketball trailblazers from across the eras whom CIBC brought to Friday’s game to honour their contributions to women’s hoops in this country. A group took the floor in the first quarter to a standing ovation from the crowd.
Sweeney had been part of the group that helped bring the NBA’s Toronto Raptors to the city in 1995. She’d been approached in the past to help get a WNBA team, but the time wasn’t right. She believes now that the present is the right time.
“Teresa Resch, Larry Tannenbaum, they’ve got the acumen, and the business savvy, the vision,” said Sweeney, a Canadian Basketball Hall of Famer. “I’m really proud of them. I’m proud that they’ve had the temerity to write the check.”
She hoped the team thinks about the legacy they leave. It echoes something Nurse has been saying repeatedly during training camp. The Hamilton native reminded that Canada’s Olympic team on the men’s side is all NBA players, but the women’s is just a few WNBA players at this point, and they’re all kids who idolized Vince Carter and the Raptors growing up. She said a new era for the women’s game is about to take shape.
“In 10 to 15 years, you’re going to see all these young women on the national team, and when you have a conversation with them about where their love for basketball came from, they’ll be Tempo kids.”
Toronto’s second game will be Wednesday, at home again, against the Seattle Storm.