Toronto Tempo pack their bags for five-game road trip

TORONTO — The Toronto Tempo hope the upcoming five-game road trip will curb its losing ways.

The Tempo dropped its fifth straight and second this week to the Minnesota Lynx 104-72 on Thursday. Even though the WNBA-leading Lynx extended its win streak to nine games, Toronto head coach Sandy Brondello called the loss embarrassing before 18,145 at Scotiabank Arena.

“(We need) to be more mentally tougher, physically tougher, because that’s embarrassing,” Brondello said. “This is on our home court.

“We started the game off well, and then you know our habits. What breaks it down? The things we talk about: too many turnovers, and unforced turnovers, and soft turnovers, and they’re not rebounding.”

Toronto led 12-3 out of the gate. However, the Tempo (10-18) committed 24 turnovers, which led to 31 points for the visitors, who swept the three-game series against Toronto by scoring 100 or more points in each outing.

Minnesota (24-6) grabbed 36 rebounds, 10 more than the Tempo.

“This is the best team in the league, and they got back playing like the best team in the league today,” said Brondello, whose team dropped a 100-93 decision in Minnesota on Tuesday. “They played great. Credit to Minnesota. They’re a great team, but we didn’t have enough resistance, so we just got to get back to know what winning basketball looks like, and that’s being physically tough at both ends of the floor.”

The stint away from Toronto is not going to be easy for the Tempo because of the quality teams that will be waiting. The Tempo begin its 11-day, five-game trip with back-to-back games against the Golden State Valkyries (19-9) on Sunday and Tuesday, before moving on to games against the Portland Fire (11-17), Atlanta Dream (17-10) and Dallas Wings (18-10).

“The message in going on the road trip is: we’re going to compete,” Brondello said. “We have to show some fight. When we’re winning, it’s all good, and when we’re losing, it’s all bad.

“We’ve got to face adversity, and we are. What kind of team do we want to be? We can still fight, regardless of the score.”

This was the Tempo’s second game at Scotiabank Arena. In its first home outing away from its usual home court at Coca-Cola Coliseum, the Tempo drew 15,687 fans against the Phoenix Mercury on June 27.

Despite the loss, Kia Nurse, who is from Hamilton, was grateful for the experience of playing in Toronto’s largest arena.

“When it’s just been the Toronto Raptors in the city, it’s just been Scotiabank Arena or Air Canada Centre if you’re an oldie like me,” Nurse said. “Now there’s Coca-Cola Coliseum as well. It’s going to be synonymous with thinking about basketball when we think about Toronto.

“This is obviously an iconic arena, and being able to play here as the Toronto Tempo is massive. It’s obviously got more seats, so we can invite more eyes into the game. But it’s massive to be able to continue to grow the game here. We’re lucky we have a couple of different home venues that we can play in, and still have a great fan base and a great crowd behind us.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2026.

Tim Wharnsby, The Canadian Press