Tempo vs. Sky: Nyara Sabally Scores Career-High 29 as Toronto Outlasts Chicago in 111-104 Shootout

Sydney Taylor's 24-footer with 3:33 left made it 98-96, a lead that had been 14 in the third was down to one possession, and Wintrust Arena finally had the game it had been waiting for. Then a former Sky guard stepped back, rose up and took the air right back out of the place.

Marina Mabrey's 20-foot step-back keyed an 8-2 run, Nyara Sabally capped it with a 3, and the Toronto Tempo left Wintrust with a 111-104 win over the Chicago Sky on Wednesday night in the first meeting ever between the two franchises. Sabally finished with a career-high 29 points on 11-of-14 shooting, Mabrey had 24, and Chicago scored a season-high 104 and still lost by seven.

No Runs, Just Bucket After Bucket

Here is the strangest number in the whole box score: neither team had a single run of eight unanswered points. For a game with 215 total points, that tells you how this went. It was less a series of swings than a long, loud trading of baskets, with Toronto almost always a few steps ahead. The Tempo led for 80 percent of the game.

Toronto took a 25-22 edge after one and a 55-48 lead at the half, shooting 58% and dominating the first-half boards 21-10. Sabally had 14 by the break, Brittney Sykes 13 and Mabrey 10. An 11-4 run to start the third made it 66-52, Toronto's biggest lead of the night, and at that point the Sky looked headed for a quiet finish.

They were not. Taylor scored 23 of her 27 after halftime, and Chicago trimmed it to 80-74 by the end of the quarter. The fourth was a track meet, 31-30 Toronto, with Wintrust playing host to the kind of chaos usually reserved for a Friday night service on The Bear. Everyone was yelling, the tickets kept coming and nobody could quite catch up.

Sabally and Mabrey Could Not Miss

Sabally's night was absurdly efficient. She played only 28 minutes, took just 14 shots and made 11 of them, including 3 of 4 from deep, while adding six rebounds, two steals and two blocks. In her previous five appearances this season, she had topped out at 14 points. This was a different player.

Mabrey was the closer. She shot 9-of-13, dished seven assists and scored eight of Toronto's points in the last 2:41 on a step-back from 20, a floater from 10, another step-back from 19 and a pair of free throws with 2.9 seconds left. Doing that in the building where she used to play makes it taste a little better.

Sykes scored 20 with zero turnovers and zero fouls in 35 minutes, getting to the line for 8 tries and making 7. Kiki Rice, the No. 6 pick in this year's draft, put up 14 points, eight rebounds and seven assists and finished plus-11. Maria Conde added 12 off the bench with three 3s, matching Sabally and Mabrey for a share of the team's 12 makes.

Chicago's offense was hardly the problem. Taylor, a rookie who came off the bench, scored 27, tied for the most by any reserve in the league this season according to the Sky, though she needed 22 shots and went 3-of-12 from deep. Skylar Diggins had 23 points and nine assists with zero turnovers. Natasha Cloud was nearly perfect at 7-of-8 from the floor for 18 points and nine more assists, and Elizabeth Williams gave them 11 points and nine rebounds in a season-high 23 minutes. Azura Stevens added 10.

The 8-2 Answer

The turning point lasted less than two minutes. After Taylor made it 98-96, Sabally made one of two free throws. Mabrey hit her step-back for 101-96. Cloud answered inside, and Mabrey came right back with a floater off a Rice pass for 103-98. Then, at 1:43, Laura Juskaite found Sabally for a 23-foot 3 that made it 106-98. Chicago had just gotten all the way back into the game, and it was suddenly staring at an eight-point deficit again.

The Sky kept scoring after that, and it did not matter. Every time Chicago got a bucket, Toronto had one of its own waiting. The Sky's own recap conceded the point, calling for a return to the defensive habits that had the group near the top of the league early on.

Stats That Matter

• 3-pointers: Toronto 12-of-26 (46%), Chicago 7-of-31 (23%). That 15-point gap is more than double the final margin.
• Field goals: Toronto 37-of-66 (56%), Chicago 36-of-75 (48%). The Sky took nine more shots and made one fewer.
• Rebounds: Toronto 37, Chicago 27. All of that edge came in the first half.
• Assists: Chicago 31, Toronto 22. The Sky set a season high, assisting on 31 of their 36 baskets, and got nothing for it.
• Everything else Chicago won: paint 54-44, fast-break points 15-0, points off turnovers 18-12. A normal night, those three numbers would win you the game.

Toronto Gets Even, Chicago Stays Stuck

The Tempo climb back to 4-4, snapping a two-game slide that included a 100-72 loss in Minnesota and a 99-80 home loss to Portland. They are now 3-2 on the road, and 111 is the most they have scored in any of their eight games. Seattle visits Toronto on Saturday.

Chicago drops to 3-4 with its third straight loss, and all three have come on this homestand. The Sky are 0-3 at Wintrust and 3-1 everywhere else, which is the sort of split that makes a fan base very suspicious of its own building. They get one more shot to fix it on Friday against Minnesota.

Yes, Chef

Chicago knows a thing or two about stories set in a kitchen where everybody is talented, everybody is stressed and the orders never stop. The Sky brought 104 points, 31 assists and a rookie who refused to go away. It was a real meal.

Toronto simply ran the better line. Sabally missed three shots all night, Mabrey came back to her old building and closed the service herself, and the Tempo walked out at .500 with the biggest point total of their season. The Sky can argue with the reviews all they want, but the customers went home with the win.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press. Team notes from the Chicago Sky.