Photo credit: Geoff Burke
The Toronto Tempo faced a familiar struggle on Wednesday, missing a quartet of starters in Marina Mabrey, Brittney Sykes, Nyara Sabally and Maria Conde.
Sykes’ absence was anticipated on the second night of a back-to-back, considering she returned from a foot injury that held her out for two months the night before, but Mabrey’s new hamstring ailment and Sabally and Conde’s continued absence with calf injuries put the Tempo in a bind.
Rookie guard Kiki Rice drove aggressively and shot the leather off the ball to keep the Tempo in the game. But they ultimately fell 93-82 to the Washington Mystics for their 12th straight loss, officially eliminating them from playoff contention.
Rice scored 10 points in the third quarter, bookending a pair of driving layups with step-back 3s. She did her best to pull the Tempo back into the game single-handedly, but Kiki Iriafen’s putbacks were deadly. She kept shovelling the ball into the basket, finishing with 21 points and 13 rebounds.
Rice tied her career high with 19 points on nine shots and added a pair of assists.
THREE FROM THE ROOK pic.twitter.com/piEiWsdOvl
— Toronto Tempo (@TempoBasketball) August 20, 2026
Laura Juskaite got off to a picture-perfect start, scoring the Tempo’s first two buckets on a pair of layups. The European contingent was on fire early; Julie Allemand banged a 3 when her defender went under the ball screen.
But Shakira Austin and Iriafen have been a problem for the Tempo this season, and they were again Wednesday. Izzy Harrison recovered to block Austin, but Iriafen cleaned it up for an and-1 putback. The imposing forward had a double-double a few minutes into the third quarter, mostly fuelled by said putbacks, contributing to the Mystics’ 23-7 lead in second-chance points.
The Mystics also made their first four 3s, and both teams were blazing from downtown. Aneesah Morrow responded with a couple of catch-and-shoot triples of her own. But the Mystics started the game a sizzling 6-for-9.
Kia Nurse had a spirited stretch where she blind doubled and got her hands on the ball to force a turnover, sank a pull-up middy and took an offensive foul. Teonni Key also checked in for the first time in four games and had a good shift with a driving layup and strong defence on Lauren Betts. Kiki Rice knocked down a triple off a chase action to tie the game late in the first.
YES MAAM KIKI pic.twitter.com/2tKmd5BpkJ
— Toronto Tempo (@TempoBasketball) August 19, 2026
But the Mystics answered with a 13-0 run. Georgia Amoore couldn’t miss from 3, making her first three straight, and Iriafen was unstoppable inside. Washington entered play last in 3-point percentage (29.8), second last in makes (5.8), but second in average points in the paint (42.8). Toronto worked hard to take the post away, but when every 3 is going down, there’s only so much that can be done. There were too many holes in the boat and not enough fingers to plug them.
Meanwhile, the Tempo’s offence stagnated as they were held scoreless for a 5:24 stretch and scored only nine points in the second — a franchise low for a single quarter.
Washington’s 3-point shooting wasn’t sustainable — they eventually started missing them. But their inside game was, and Iriafen and Austin kept torching them as they have all season.