TORONTO (AP) 鈥� The Toronto Tempo didn鈥檛 treat fans to beautiful basketball in their inaugural game, but they managed to keep it close all the way to the final buzzer.
Shakira Austin made four free throws down the stretch and the on Friday night, disappointing a sellout crowd of 8,210 at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
鈥淚t was a great moment,鈥� Tempo coach Sandy Brondello said. 鈥淪ad that we didn鈥檛 win the game, didn鈥檛 close it out, but the fans were fantastic. It was a very ugly game. Hopefully they get way prettier than that as we move forward.鈥�
The Tempo shot 5 for 25 from long range and finished with 10 assists on 17 baskets.
鈥淲e were poor on offense,鈥� Brondello said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 share the ball, we didn鈥檛 play as a team as much as we would have liked.鈥�
Brittney Sykes scored the first points in Tempo history on a pull-up jumper in the first quarter but went 0 for 5 from distance, missing a 3 with 14 seconds left that would have given Toronto the lead.
One of the loudest cheers came when Canadian soccer star Christine Sinclair was shown on the video screen.
Almost as loud was the reaction when Marina Mabrey鈥檚 3-pointer with 4:19 remaining in the fourth put Toronto up 57-56, its first lead of the second half.
鈥淭o have them have our back, cheering for us every time we figure it out, it kind of helps us feel like we鈥檙e getting something going,” Mabrey said.
The Tempo finished with 16 turnovers.
鈥淲e鈥檝e just got to execute a little bit better with how we want to play,鈥� Brondello said.
The Tempo get another chance at their first win when they host the Seattle Storm on Wednesday night.
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