MONTREAL – The Toronto Tempo played their first Cross Canada Series game in Montreal on Friday night, falling 108-95 to the Dallas Wings. <\/p>\n
Despite the loss, history was made as the game broke the WNBA\u2019s regular-season attendance record with a crowd of 20,966 fans at the Bell Centre. The previous record of 20,711 was set in 2024 in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
\u201c[This has] been years in the making,\u201d Tempo forward Isabelle Harrison said after the game. \u201cTo be living in these actual conversations, to be right here, right now, it\u2019s bigger than us.<\/p>\n
I hope Canada is proud of us. We play every day for you guys, and we\u2019re just really happy to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harrison scored 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the field against the Wings, but it was Marina Mabrey who led the Tempo with 34 points. Forward Laura Juskaite scored a career-high 25 points along with three rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block.<\/p>\n
On the other side of the court, Paige Bueckers also scored 34 \u2013 a season-high for the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year. Jessica Shepard supported the win with a 20-point, 17-rebound performance of her own.<\/p>\n
In a neutral site on the Tempo\u2019s Canadian turf, Wings fans showed out. There were moments that it almost felt like a home crowd atmosphere for the surging Wings, who have won their last four games and sit in fourth in the WNBA standings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had four of our main players out, but we fought hard,\u201d Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello said after the game. \u201cWe just ran out of gas, didn\u2019t have enough in the tank to finish it off. But credit to Dallas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s Montreal premiere was also the first game of Kayla Alexander\u2019s seven-day contract. The Canadian was signed to a hardship deal on Thursday, which marked her first stint in the WNBA since 2020. The two-time Olympian was brought to the Tempo to fill the team\u2019s need in the frontcourt, with both Nyara Sabally and Temi Fagbenle out with injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cA long time ago, me and Kayla were on the same team with San Antonio,\u201d Harrison said. \u201cI just know she\u2019s a not too high, not too low player. She does her job. She rebounds, and we need that steadiness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexander will be available for the Tempo\u2019s next two games at least as she completes her seven-day deal. From there, the Tempo can decide to sign her to another seven-day, or go in a different direction.<\/p>\n
From Milton, Ont., Alexander was not expecting the call from the Tempo\u2019s front office offering her the deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely shock,\u201d Alexander said of her reaction to returning to the WNBA for her home team. \u201cAnd then just gratitude and excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n
The strategy on bringing in Alexander is layered \u2013 her Canadian citizenship meant that she didn\u2019t have to go through a delayed visa process, meaning she could start immediately with the team. The Tempo also knew bringing in an experienced player on a hardship contract would mean she would adapt easier to the WNBA\u2019s fast pace and tough schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s an experienced post player, she\u2019s played in this league,\u201d Brondello said at morning shootaround on Friday. \u201cI can remember the last game we had a hard time guarding her, when Australia played Canada at the World Cup qualifiers.<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s easier for someone that\u2019s been in the league or someone that has more international experience than a rookie coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to play hard, do what I can to help the team to be successful and have fun,\u201d Alexander said of her goals for this week.<\/p>\n
Friday was the Tempo\u2019s fourth consecutive defeat. They have the league\u2019s fourth-most difficult schedule the remainder of the season. On Sunday, they will play a second game in Montreal, this time against the New York Liberty.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the atmosphere was fantastic. It\u2019s great to be up here and have the fans to come out and support the WNBA and the Tempo,\u201d Brondello said.<\/p>\n
Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL – The Toronto Tempo played their first Cross Canada Series game in Montreal on Friday night, falling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[712,49,48,2338,243298],"class_list":["post-794327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal","tag-toronto-tempo-sports-basketball-team-team-statscom-45513"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}