Young upstart expansion sisters from Portland stun the Tempo

The Tempo are back in action Wednesday in Chicago against the Sky.

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Published May 23, 2026  •  Last updated 27 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

Portland Fire guard Bridget Carleton, of Chatham, Ont., reacts after scoring a three-point basket during the second quarter of her team's game against the Toronto Tempo at Coca-Cola Coliseum on May 23, 2026. Photo by Michael Chisholm /Getty Images

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They are expansion sisters, but that is about where the comparisons end for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo.

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The Fire, as head coach Alex Sarama readily admitted before the game, drafted and crafted its roster with development front of mind.

The Tempo were much more concerned with the now and winning in the present, and as such took a more experienced, more veteran approach to their team build.

That’s not to say that the Fire aren’t concerned with winning. Youth doesn’t automatically mean struggle and the Fire, to their credit, have been in every game they have played this year.

Still in a season where they will rarely be the favourite based on nothing more than their newness in the league, the Tempo began the night 4 1/2 point favourites on their expansion sisters from Portland.

Someone clearly forget to tell the Fire what was supposed to happen.

Not only did they hang around for the better part of three quarters, they began the fourth with a five-point lead and spent the better part of the quarter building on it getting the lead up to 19 before finishing up with a 99-80 win.

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The hope is this was nothing more than the curse of the return from a west coast trip, a real thing in the NBA where teams playing their first game at home following a visit to the west coast struggle.

A struggle would sum up nicely the kind of night it was for the Tempo.

The three-point game that they tend to rely on never really got going as the home side threw up 22 on the night but hit only five. Their 23% success rate from distance looked that much worse beside what the young guns from Portland were doing as they were hitting at a 50% success rate.

Portland had five shooters in double figures in this one, none more than the 14 Emily Engstler and Megan Gustafson had.

Toronto’s best scorers on the night were young point guard Kiki Rice and veteran Marina Mabrey, who had 19 each. Brittney Sykes settled for 10 in a second consecutive performance where she was well below her early season average.

Coming hot on the heels of a 100-72 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on the fourth and final game that trip that began out in Los Angeles, the Tempo have now lost two games in a row for the first time.

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Toronto, it should be pointed out, have been playing without three regulars in point guard Julie Allemand (groin strain), Temi Fagbenle (sprained AC joint) and Isabelle Harrison (right thumb dislocation) so they were shorthanded, though head coach Sandy Brondello refused to use that as an excuse.

Centre Nyara Sabally has also been slowed by a neck strain but she did play in Saturday’s game with her minutes limited to 23.

The Tempo are back in action Wednesday in Chicago against the Sky.

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