The Guru’s WNBA/UPSHOT Report: Expansion Toronto Goes to 3-2 Winning at Phoenix as Sykes and Marbrey Combine for 61 Points

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

A season after Golden State made its debut into the WNBA setting expansion records with sellouts every night, the most victories for a debut team, and qualifying for the playoffs on the first attempt this season’s newbies of Toronto and Portland to bring the league membership to 15 franchises are hitting the win mark early in their existence.

In the only game on Tuesday’s card Toronto got a combo 61 points from Brittney Sykes and Marina Marbrey to win at Phoenix 98-90 in a high-scoring affair before 9,337 at the Mortgage Matchup Center, site of last month’s NCAA championship claimed by UCLA over South Carolina, to go 3-2 and dropping last season’s WNBA runner-ups to 2-3.

Sykes, a 2017 overall seventh pick in the first round by Atlanta, had 31 points for the Tempo, another career-high, while Marbrey, a former Notre Dame standout finished with 30.

The former, who played last season in Washington and Seattle before going in the expansion draft in March, was coming off a career high 38 points on Sunday while Marbrey, who was with Connecticut the last two seasons, went in the second round as the 19th overall choice of Los Angeles, playing one season with the Sparks, three in Dallas, two with Chicago, the second of which she got dealt to the Sun.

Tuesday’s game was close until the fourth quarter when Toronto broke into a 12-4 run to go ahead 85-78 before Maria Conde and Kiki Rice, the latter taken last month as part of a league-record six picks off UCLA in the regular draft, each scored around a Mercury turnover, to make it 93-86 with 2:32 left.

Marbrey, who had six of a Tempo season-high 15 makes from deep, while Phoenix was 4-of-22, hit a long shot for a 96-90 lead with 1:25 left.

The Mercury’s Kahleah Copper, the Philly native who starred at Rutgers, scored 18, former Maryland star Alyssa Harris out of Harrisburg, had 17 points in her second season in the Arizona desert, DeWanna Bonner collected 13 points, and Jovanna Nogic scored 13.

Natasha Mack, signed from Minnesota in the offseason league-wide massive free-agent spree following the landmark players’ labor deal, had 12 points and 10 boards but had to leave for the night after a hard fall late in the third quarter.

Toronto’s Rice scored 15 points, Laura Juskaite had 10, while Sykes reached 30 her second straight game shooting 10-of-19 from the field, including four 3-pointers.

The Tempo went up 45-44 at the half on a three from Marbrey with 20.8 seconds left in the third period.

“They have future Hall of Famers but so do we, and we came out with a win, so that’s a notch for us,” Sykes said.

“Really impressive,” said Toronto coach Sandy Brondello of Sykes and Marbrey.

Brondello, who is also the Australian nation team coach, guided New York, a 1997 charter WNBA team, to its first league title in 2024 and was with the Liberty last season before being let go and quickly grabbed by the Tempo after the team fell to Phoenix in first round of the playoffs.

“I give a great lot of respect to these two here, they’re great leaders in the locker room, but also but also great leaders on the court taking Kiki under their wing and every single player that comes out to the court.

“We’ve found some chemistry, we’ve found what works, and even when we’re facing a lot of adversity, even with injuries, we just stay true. I think we’re having a lot of fun.”

As for the impact of foreigner players, especially Australians and Europeans, Brondello said, “The strength of this league is going to keep improving. This CBA, the Europeans, everyone wants to come and play in the best league in the world.

“And I think it’s raising the standard of this league, it’s very exciting. Every team has Europeans. We have a lot of different nationalities we have some rookies, they’re 28 (years old), 29, they have so much experience and it shows.”

On beating a team like Phoenix, Marbrey said, “I think it’s such a confidence booster. You have to give credit to the other team. They’re Olympians over there, champions, Hall of Famers, giving them that respect, but also have the respect and confidence of people in our locker room.”

On the other side, Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts said of giving up the array of long shots, “For a team that takes pride in its defense, we didn’t do what we needed to do tonight. Looked like a poor defensive team tonight.”

Thomas added, “I think we’re nowhere near where we need to be defensively,” she said and referred to last season when the Mercury’s hallmark was its emphasis on defense. “It’s gonna be a long season if we don’t get it together on the defensive end.”

“We just gotta get stops. That’s what it comes down to,” Copper said.

Looking Ahead

On Wednesday USA airs Indiana hosting Portland at 7 p.m. and Chicago hosting Dallas at 9 p.m. before Connecticut visits Seattle at 10 p.m. on League Pass.

On Thursday on the weekly Amazon Prime games, New York returns home for the first time since the season opener on May 8 and hosts Golden State at 8 p.m. at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn before Phoenix hosts Los Angeles at 10 p.m.

Also, at 8 on League Pass, Minnesota hosts Toronto.

On Friday, the triple header on ION has Atlanta hosting Dallas at 7:30 p.m., the same time Indiana hosts Golden State before Seattle hosts Connecticut, the latter also on League Pass.

On Saturday, which was dark last week, CBS and Paramount+ kick in with Chicago hosting Minnesota at 1 p.m., and defending champion Las Vegas hosting L.A. 8 p.m. while at 6 p.m., Toronto hosts Portland, the two newest teams meeting the first time.

After a break next season, the expansion continues with Cleveland returning in 2028, Detroit doing likewise in 2029, and Philadelphia coming on board in 2030.

UPSHOT Week Two

The new four-team developmental-style pro league, whose commissioner Donna Orender was the second WNBA president, that had a successful debut last weekend and whose games can be seen free on its YouTube channel, has the Jacksonville Waves (0-1) coached by Philadelphia’s Jessica Bogia looking for their first win at 7 p.m. on Thursday visiting the Charlotte Crown (1-0) that ruined their home and season opener before spending Memorial Day weekend hosting the Greensboro Groove (2-0) at 4 p.m. Saturday and visiting the Savannah Steel (0-2) at 3 p.m. Sunday.

All four rosters were posted recently at this site.

On Friday, Greensboro, that swept Savannah at home last weekend, visits the Georgians at 7 p.m., and on Monday the Groove ventures over to nearby Charlotte at 7 p.m. in North Carolina.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Guru’s WNBA Report: Bueckers Leads Dallas Over Washington; Expansion Portland Keeps Connecticut Winless; Chicago’s Jackson Out for Season

 By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

Week two of the 30th WNBA season got under way Monday night with a doubleheader delighting both home crowds as Dallas erupted with a 28-17 third quarter to beat Washington 92-69 in front of 6,251 at the College Park Center in suburban Arlington while expansion Portland edged Connecticut 83-82 before 12,010 in the Moda Center in Oregon leaving the visiting Sun (0-5) as the only winless squad in the 15-team league, the other three who played are now 2-2 while after Atlanta’s one-point loss to Las Vegas Sunday, no unbeaten squads remain.

Down in Texas, reigning rookie of the year Paige Bueckers scored 18 points with seven assists for the winning Wings, her former UConn teammate Azzi Fudd, the overall top pick in last month’s draft, off the bench had her best performance with 12 points in 24 minutes, shooting 6-for-9 with three assists and a pair of rebounds, and former Notre Dame standout Arike Ogunbowale scored 16 points.

Additionally, Jessica Shepard had 12 points and 16 boards, equaling the WNBA single game high for rebounds this season, and reserve and former Villanova standout Maddy Siegriest, the number three overall pick of the 2023 draft, shot 4-for-9 with a pair of makes from deep for 10 points.

Bueckers shot 4-of-5 from distance, as Dallas shared the ball well with 31 assists on 33 in building a lead that reached 25 points off a 52-14 run across the third and fourth quarters and also excelled defensively with 23 points off 18 turnovers.

Washington’s Shakira Austin scored 12 points and reserve Lauren Betts, who went fourth overall last month out of NCAA champion UCLA that saw a record six players selected, had 11 points and second-year pro Kiki Iriafen scored nine points with 10 points but sister all-rookie Sonia Citron was held to seven points.

Former Villanovan Lucy Olsen, whose senior year was at Iowa before drafted in 2025, off the bench was a perfect 3-for-3 and had eight points.

After the Wings’ last game, a loss, first-year coach Jose Fernandez out of a long stint at South Florida said there had been a lot of selfishness in the Dallas locker room.

Bueckers on the response said after Monday’s win, “It felt really good. It started when we set the tone off the jump, defensively, we held them to a nine-point first quarter and then after that we played unselfishly, we got out in transition.

“We had really good days of practice leading up to this game, really talking and communicating.”

“The offense hasn’t been the problem,” Fernandez said. “In the third and fourth quarter the ball was really moving. This game was won because how we defended, how we rebounded. It was won because of the commitment the last two days at practice and shootaround.”

Fudd said of her performance, “My goal was just to be aggressive when I got into the game and contribute any way I could, watch what the starters were doing and they started the game being aggressive, pushing the pace, so I wanted to do that.”

Fire Clip Sun

Portland’s Sarah Ashlee Barker, a reserve and second-year pro out of Alabama who came from Los Angeles in the expansion draft, and Bridget Carleton, a Canadian and seven-year pro who came the same way out of Minnesota, each collected 18 points, a career-high for Barker,  while Sug Sutton, a former NCAA Texas star who last played in Washington, put the Fire in front 81-79 with 22.6 seconds left in regulation.

Sutton finished with 12 points and five assists.

The Sun, acquired in 2003 from Orlando and who have been sold and relocating next season in Houston reviving as the Comets who won the first four WNBA crowns (1997-200), failed to tie on their next two possessions.

Carleton was then fouled and made it a four-point lead with 9.7 ticks remaining on the clock.

Charlisse Leger-Walker, who went in the second round last month out of UCLA, scored from deep for the visitors, the Fire then committed an offensive foul, but Aneesah Morrow’s half-court heave was short.

Portland’s Emily Engstler added 15 points and Nyadiew Puoch scored 10 points.

Free-agent signee Brittney Griner with an eye to her native Texas next season topped Connecticut with 16 points, getting to one off 6,000 for her career, while Morrow, Hailey Van Lith and Aaliyah Edwards each scored 12 and Leger-Walker, a native New Zealander who also played at Washington State, scored 10 points.

Holding Portland to 13 points in the second quarter, the Sun shot 58% from the field while the home team was 3-of-13 from deep.

The game was tied 64-64 at the end of three quarters after the Sun’s Saniya Rivers went length-of-court to score from the line.

Foul shooting plagued the Sun, who shot 11-of-20 at the line and went deep on the early schedule last summer before being more competitive down the stretch.

Fire coach Alex Sarama, a former NBA assistant in Cleveland, said of picking Barker to fit his system, “It’s grit, it’s resilience. It’s being the hardest worker every single minute. And I think SA shows all of that and more.”

She described her style, “It’s just stepping up for your teammates, and just doing the little things. I’ve always been someone who enjoys doing the little things, enjoy rebounding, enjoys playing defense, and just the way whatever the team needs of me.”

Sutton started the game in place of French guard Carla Leite who twisted her right ankle in Portland’s first of two games hosting New York on May 12, a game Barker scored the winner ahead of the final buzzer.

‘The key thing that stood out was the perseverance,” Sarama said of Monday’s win. “It was messy, very scrappy at times. I always felt we had a chance to win that game knowing the trust we have in that group.”

Last summer Golden State in its first season set WNBA expansion records with a total game night sellout, number of wins, and making the playoffs.

This season both Portland and Toronto have picked up a pair of wins 11 days into the action.

Jackson Lost for Season in Chicago

Rickea Jackson, who went down in the second quarter of Sunday’s game in Minnesota, an injury that drew Sky free-agent and Saint Joseph’s alum Natasha Cloud criticizing officials for losing control of the game, has been lost for the season with an ACL, the team announced Tuesday morning.

Looking Ahead

A single game Tuesday has Phoenix hosting Toronto at 10 p.m. on League Pass while on Wednesday USA airs Indiana hosting Portland at 7 p.m. and Chicago hosting Dallas at 9 p.m. before Connecticut visits Seattle at 10 p.m. on League Pass.

On Thursday on the weekly Amazon Prime games, New York returns home for the first time since the season opener on May 8 and hosts Golden State at 8 p.m. at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn before Phoenix hosts Los Angeles at 10 p.m.

Also, at 8 on League Pass, Minnesota hosts Toronto.

On Friday, the triple header on ION has Atlanta hosting Dallas at 7:30 p.m., the same time Indiana hosts Golden State before Seattle hosts Connecticut, the latter also on League Pass.

On Saturday, which was dark last week, CBS and Paramount+ kick in with Chicago hosting Minnesota at 1 p.m., and defending champion Las Vegas hosting L.A. 8 p.m. while at 6 p.m., Toronto hosts Portland, the two newest teams meeting the first time.

After a break next season, the expansion continues with Cleveland returning in 2028, Detroit doing likewise in 2029, and Philadelphia coming on board in 2030.

The Guru’s WNBA Report: Clark’s Indy Win Gets Her More Records; Las Vegas Game Winner Over Atlanta Removes Last Unbeaten; Toronto Gets First Road Win

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

It was a day of Indiana’s Caitlin Clark and Las Vegas’ Aja Wilson setting more records in their respective games as part of Sunday’s four-part WNBA package, expansion Toronto racked up another early victory, and a surprise win by Chicago.

Clark had 21 points and 10 assists with seven boards in a near triple-double in just 24 minutes, and after missing most of last season playing in just 13 games through mid-July,  her 12th time with a 20-point and 10-assist game set a WNBA record in an 89-78 win by the Fever (2-2) over the Seattle Storm (1-3) before a home crowd of 14,505 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, though teammate and 2023 overall No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston missed her first game in her four-year pro career.

The first miss in 275 games also includes an additional four years playing in the NCAA at South Carolina under Dawn Staley.

Boston departed Indiana’s previous game with a lower right leg injury and was listed day-to-day.

That game, a narrow overtime loss to Washington at home in which a stat update gave\ two more assists saw Clark corrected to break a tie with Chicago’s Courtney Vandersloot and on Sunday her fourth straight game of 20-plus points and five-plus assists tied a league mark to start a season.

Her 32 points in Friday’s loss also set a mark with her second 30-plus 10-assist career game.

In a narrow 85-84 win by defending champion Las Vegas (4-1) at Atlanta (2-1) on Chelsea Gray’s shot with 3.6 seconds left in regulation that quickly took away the last unbeaten team at the end of the first week of the WNBA’s 30th season before a sellout home crowd of 17,044 at the NBA Hawks’ State Farm Arena, Wilson scored 20 as her 5,841 career points moved her past her Aces coach Becky Hammon to 19th on the league’s all-time career list.

Expansion Toronto (2-2) won its second game triumphing 106-96 at Los Angeles (1-3) before a Crypto.com Arena crowd of 11,648 as Brittney Sykes had a career-high 38 points in the Tempo’s first-ever road victory.

Rookie and first-round pick Gabriela Jaquez out of NCAA champion UCLA had early career highs of 20 points and eight boards as Chicago (3-1) grabbed an 86-78 win at Minnesota (2-2) before a crowd of 10,001 at the Target Center in Minneapolis but the Sky lost third-year pro Rickea Jackson, the fourth overall pick of the 2024 draft out of Tennessee, with a left knee injury halfway through the second quarter causing teammate and free-agent Natasha Cloud to accuse the officials of losing control of the game.

Two of Sunday’s games were carried by NBC platforms, a return from televising games in the early years of the WNBA and introduced retired Hall of Famers Sue Bird and Cheryl Miller as part of the NBC studio crew.

The network pulled a surprise “good luck” live video greeting from Miller’s brother, retired NBA Hall of Famer Reggie Miller and her two young nieces.

Fever Handle Storm

Indiana jumped in front with a 15-0 run in the first period spurred by Clark who had 17 by the half, the game total by teammates Kelsey Mitchell and reserve Sophie Cunningham.

Seattle’s Natisha Hiedman, a free agent from Minnesota, had 19 points, first-round pick Flau’jae Johnson out of LSU scored 14, Zia Cook scored 13 and Jade Melbourne scored 12.

Of her performance, Clark said, “I always take pride being able to set my teammates up for success. That allows our team to really get flowing, and I can do a really good job of that.

“I only played 23 minutes tonight, and I had 10 assists, so I think it shows the potential of what this team can do offensively. They’ve got to make the shots for me to get the assist, so half of it is them, and I’ve got to set them up for success. “

Indiana coach Stephanie White said of what is improved in Clark’s start to her comeback season, “I think you can see it, not just in taking off with the ball in her hands, but you can see it in the lift in her shot. She looks strong. She looks loaded in her actions. You can tell by the way she gets to the free line, too. So, I just think her movement patterns and her burst are back.“

White didn’t reveal much on Boston’s status, terming the move to rest her as one of caution.

Aces Nip Dream

Las Vegas is on a four-game streak after dropping its opener as Gray’s winning shot gave her 21 points, just ahead of the 20 by Wilson and Chennedy Carter, who as a free-agent signee is averaging 19.4 points after not picked by any of the now 15 teams (13 active in 2025) last season.

NaLyssa Smith had 13 points, all but two in the second half, while Jackie Young, who had seven assists, was 0-for-12 from the field, including 0-for-5 from deep, her first scoreless game since 2020.

Atlanta had a deep deficit until launching a 16-0 run completed by Te-Hina Paopao’s 3-pointer that brought the Dream within a point with 2:16 left in regulation.

Atlanta went in front 84-83 on Jordin Canada’s shot with 36 seconds left and then Gray missed a shot, but a tie-up gave the Aces possession for her game-winner.

Third-year pro Angel Reese, who came to Atlanta in a deal with Chicago, was deprived of her ongoing double-double attack, held to nine points on 1-for-8 from the field, and eight boards but also committing eight turnovers.

Paopao had 19 points, rookie Madina Okot out of South Carolina had her second double-double with 14 points and 11 caroms, while Canada scored 11 points and had seven steals.

On injury row, Rhyne Howard (concussion protocol) and Brionna Jones (knee) were sidelined for Atlanta and the visitors missed Dana Evans (leg) and Janiah Barker (concussion protocol).

“That’s who she is,” Hammon said of Gray. “The bigger the moment, the bigger she gets.”

Atlanta coach Karl Smesko said of the game by Reese, “I expect her to be a big impact player. What I see every day is someone working really hard in practice, who wants to learn, who asks for extra film.

“She has the athletic tools to be one of the best players and she’s motivated to become one of the best players. I think through the course of the season you’ll get to see her get more comfortable within our style of play, it’s definitely a transition when you go from one team to another, and you have to learn a whole new system.”

Tempo Bests Sparks

Besides Sykes’ night, rookie Kiki Rice, making her first start near her UCLA national champion alma mater, scored 19 points, while Marina Marbrey scored 14 and Kia Nurse 10 in a game Toronto shot 39-of-42 at the line, Sykes a perfect 15-for-15.

L.A,’s Kelsey Plum scored 28, Dearica Hamby collected 19, Nneka Ogwumike scored 17, and Kate Martin, the former Iowa star recently signed as a development player after cut by Golden State, scored 11.

The Sparks were 23-for-30 from the line as referees continue to call things tight in a move to gain more player movement.

Indiana’s Clark said of the officiating, “I think for our team, defensively, we need to adjust. We foul all the time. And Steph’s told us in the locker room, they’re fouls. And we are fouling, and they’re going to call it. So, we need to stop fouling.”

Unlike Friday night when Toronto trailed 19-2, the Tempo broke from an 18-18 tie leading the rest of the way in front of a crowd that included UCLA coach Cori Close, who shot video of Rice, her former player.

“We started very poorly, still sleeping, think I said that,” Toronto coach Sandy Brondello compared the two games.

“Today, we were very more connected. I was confident going into the game, if we stayed together and executed.”

Sky Deals Lynx

Kamilla Cordoso behind Jaquez’ night had 11 points and 12 boards, Rachel Banham added 13 points, the newly acquired Cloud scored 11 and dealt seven helpers, and Jacy Nelson scored 10.

It was a four-point game with 1:44 left after Courtney Williams scored from deep for Minnesota and Natasha Howard scored a layup, but Jaquez came back with a three to make it 83-76.

Minnesota’s Kayla McBride scored 20 and Howard 17 with nine boards and seven assists.

Williams finished with 17 points while second overall pick Olivia Miles in last month’s draft had 13 points and four steals.

Skylar Diggins with an eye injury was sidelined for Chicago while Minnesota’s whose elite Napheesa Collier isn’t due back from elite surgery until next month, began life the rest of the way without Emma Cechova who suffered an ACL injury in the recent win in Dallas.

Of the loss of Chicago’s Jackson, who came in a trade this season with the Sparks and due for an MRI on Monday, Cloud said, “On top of the points of emphasis that were emphasized at the beginning of the season, their ultimate job is to control and protect the players in this game. And I think about this group today failed to do so. Truthfully, I think it’s bull…

“You can be mad at me if you want to, but I’ll be damned if we keep getting players hurt in this league on any team because we refuse to control the game.”

Chicago has been on the road to start the season ahead of Wednesday’s home opener.

“We’re all extremely pleased and proud to come away with this road trip 3-1 and looking forward to getting back home,” said Chicago coach Tyler Marsh.

Off the loss, Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve, the native of South Jersey, said, “Repeatedly, we have fouled since training camp.

“I think we talked about fouling before the game and where did we lose the game? Fouling,” Reeve said.

“We gave ourselves a chance. We didn’t quit, kept fighting …  Chicago’s a better team than we are right now. When I watched video, I was struck by their cohesion. their identity, defensively,” she continued.

“Very, very strong. Give them credit. They had us out of sorts and unaware and how to play against them. It’s good for us. This was good for Olivia Miles. This was good for all of them. It’s not easy. We’re not going to sit there and yell, ‘referees, referees.’ There’s physicality. And it’s legal. And we gotta figure out how to do the same thing.”

Looking Ahead

The NBC Sports Network and Peacock come back Monday night at 8 p.m. for Washington’s visit to Dallas followed at 10 p.m. on League Pass when Connecticut visits Portland.

A single game Tuesday has Phoenix hosting expansion Toronto at 10 p.m. on League Pass while on Wednesday USA airs Indiana hosting expansion Portland at 7 p.m. and Chicago hosting Dallas at 9 p.m. before Connecticut visits Seattle at 10 p.m. on League Pass.