There are nights when the score matters, and there are nights when the crowd does too. In Montréal, the Toronto Tempo managed to make both count. Two days after a record-setting WNBA regular-season crowd of 20,996 watched the Tempo lose to the Dallas Wings, 12,724 fans came back to Centre Bell on Sunday, July 12, 2026, and saw Toronto edge the New York Liberty 93-91.
The result ended a four-game losing streak and gave Toronto a badly needed response in the second half of its Montréal weekend. It was not a runaway, and it did not need to be. In a game decided by two points, the Tempo found just enough scoring and just enough composure to turn a tight finish into a win.
Marina Mabrey delivers the decisive scoring
Marina Mabrey scored 30 points for Toronto and delivered the basket that decided the game with 52 seconds left. That was the clearest difference between the two teams: the Liberty had enough talent to keep pace, but the Tempo had the player who could finish the night. In a close game, that is often the only margin that matters.
Julie Allemand was part of the win as Toronto’s group found a way to recover from Friday’s 108-95 loss to Dallas. The Tempo did not have the same crowd number this time, but the atmosphere still underlined the same broader point: Montréal can draw for the WNBA, even without a franchise of its own.
Montréal showed its appetite for WNBA basketball
The two-game sample told its own story. One night brought a regular-season attendance record. The next still brought 12,724 spectators. That drop was real, but so was the level of interest. For a city of roughly 4 million inhabitants, the weekend suggested that women’s basketball can travel well here when the event feels meaningful.
That matters beyond one scoreboard. Early in 2025, Léo Bouisson, Joël Anthony and Ian Philip bought the Alliance de Montréal, and Bouisson has already suggested that recognition in Montréal and Québec will take time. But the weekend at Centre Bell showed something simpler and more immediate: the audience is there, and it is willing to show up.
For Toronto, the priority was the result. Ending a four-game skid will not solve everything, but it does reset the tone. For Montréal, the takeaway may be even bigger. The city has never had its own WNBA franchise, yet it proved it can still behave like a serious market for the league. That is not a minor detail. It is the kind of detail leagues remember.
