Injury-plagued Tempo brace for test from Aces

The Tempo aim to continue their success in Canadian home games away from Toronto on Sunday when they host the Las Vegas Aces in Vancouver.

Toronto's two most recent victories have come in home games played in Montreal and Vancouver in the Cross Canada Series.

The problem is that they lost the 12 games between their 93-91 victory over the New York Liberty on July 12 at Montreal and their 82-79 win over the Portland Fire at Vancouver on Friday. The Tempo (11-25) are 1-1 at Montreal and 1-0 at Vancouver.

"I was having flashbacks of Montreal and just how great that crowd was," said Isabelle Harrison, who had 25 points and 10 rebounds in Friday's gritty win. "I felt we just had the momentum on our side because of all the fans here."

Toronto's win over the Fire was impressive because it had to overcome an injury list that grew during the game. The Tempo lost Brittney Sykes early in the first quarter to a left foot injury, then Aneesah Morrow left in the second quarter with a left knee injury. Neither returned.

The Tempo entered the game already without Marina Mabrey (right adductor), Maria Conde (left calf) and Nyara Sabally (left calf).

"I think it's just the tale of our season," Harrison said. "Players in and out, injuries, whatever the case is, is really messing us up. Our coach told me once, ‘The more you seize those opportunities, the more that come about.'"

Tempo coach Sandy Brondello said: "I thought we made some decent progress these last two games, and I thought the game plan was good. We want to be really aggressive, and they just bought into it."

The Aces (25-13) won the first meeting with the Tempo 109-83 at Toronto on July 20. Las Vegas completed a 3-2 homestand Thursday with a 101-78 win over the Connecticut Sun.

Las Vegas will strive for consistency on Sunday, particularly on defense.

"Sometimes I'm worried, and sometimes I'm not," coach Becky Hammon said. "I know what we're capable of, so that brings me peace."

The Aces showed what they can do in the second half against the Sun, outscoring them 53-31.

"We started to play defense," Hammon said. "It gave us an opportunity to get out to run and play, and we were able to transition and really get the ball popping."

--Field Level Media