Behind 31 points from Brittney Sykes and 30 from Marina Mabrey, the expansion Toronto Tempo won consecutive games for the first time, beating the host Phoenix Mercury 98-90 on Tuesday.
Sykes followed her career-high 38 points in a victory at the Los Angeles on Sunday with another strong offensive effort.
Toronto (3-2) converted a season-high 15 shots from 3-point range on a season-high 36 attempts (41.7%). Mabrey was 6 of 14 and Sykes 4 of 8 from beyond the arc.
Kiki Rice added 15 points for the Tempo, and Laura Juskaite had 10 points. Sykes and Rice each grabbed seven rebounds.
Phoenix (2-3) lost for the third time in the past four games.
Kahleah Copper paced Phoenix with 18 points. Alyssa Thomas finished with 17 points and eight assists, and Natasha Mack amassed 12 points and 10 rebounds.
DeWanna Bonner and Jovana Nogic each had 13 points.
The game featured 24 lead changes and 13 ties, and neither team held a double-digit lead. The Mercury led by three early in the fourth quarter before the Tempo pulled away.
Neither side had an advantage of more than four points in the second half until 6:52 remained when Juskaite made a 3-pointer to put the Tempo ahead 83-78.
Sykes made a jumper on Toronto’s next possession to increase the gap to 85-78, the game’s largest lead at that point.
Bonner and Thomas made layups on consecutive possessions to pull Phoenix within 89-86 with 3:35 left.
Toronto responded with layups by Maria Conde and Rice on its next two possessions to go ahead 93-86.
Noemie Brochant sank a 3-pointer and Thomas made 1 of 2 free-throw attempts, cutting the lead to 93-90 with 1:43 remaining.
Mabry responded with a 3-pointer on Toronto’s next possession.
After Copper missed two foul shots, Rice made 1 of 2 free throws with 53.3 seconds left to put the Tempo ahead 97-90.
Nogic missed a 3-point try and Sykes split two free throws to give Toronto its biggest lead, 98-90, with 36.3 seconds left.
Toronto played without four injured players — Isabelle Harrison (right hand), Temi Fagbenle (right shoulder), Julie Allemand (left hip) and Nyara Sabally (neck).
Sabally, sister of former Mercury post player Satou Sabally (who is now with the New York Liberty), leads Toronto with averages of 6.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.
–Field Level Media
