Tempo vs. Storm: Toronto Makes Its First 31 Free Throws for a WNBA Record in 93-72 Win

Free throws are the most boring shot in basketball right up until somebody refuses to miss one. On Saturday afternoon in Toronto, the Tempo made their first 31 of the game, a WNBA record according to The Associated Press, and the streak survived until Teonni Key missed a pair with 58 seconds left.

By then the result had long stopped being in question. Toronto beat the Seattle Storm 93-72 at Coca-Cola Coliseum, with Marina Mabrey scoring 18, rookie Kiki Rice adding 17 and the Tempo finishing 31-of-33 from the line in front of 8,210.

A Close Game Until It Absolutely Wasn't

Toronto led 21-13 after one, and for a while it looked like the Tempo might coast. Seattle had other ideas, pouring in 23 in the second quarter to cut the gap to 37-36 at the half. The Storm stayed right there deep into the third, and when Katie Lou Samuelson dropped in a short turnaround with 3:50 left in the period, it was tied at 51.

Then Seattle fell apart. The Storm turned it over on three straight trips, Toronto went on a 19-5 tear and a tie game became 70-56 by the end of the quarter. The Tempo's 33-point third is the reason the rest of this recap is about free throws and not about a nail-biter.

Seattle scratched back to 70-59 early in the fourth, and Toronto answered with 11 straight to make it 81-59 with 6:13 left. The lead topped out at 25. Rookies got in on the fun late, with Maria Conde hitting a 23-foot three off a Laura Juskaite pass and Juskaite then burying a 22-footer of her own. Tima Pouye's second free throw with 1:32 left was No. 31 on the day, the last one Toronto would make. Key's misses came a little over half a minute later, and the record book closed at 31.

Seven Players, Zero Misses, One Very Long Line

The perfect stretch was a group effort. Rice went 9-of-9, Brittney Sykes 7-of-7, Nyara Sabally and Conde 4-of-4 each, Mabrey 3-of-3, Julie Allemand and Pouye 2-of-2 each. That is seven different players who stepped up and did not blink for more than 39 minutes of basketball.

Mabrey led the way with 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting, adding four assists and not a single foul in 29 minutes. Rice was the more interesting story. She scored 13 of her 17 after halftime, grabbed six rebounds and added a season-high four steals, finishing plus-24. She needed only eight shots to get there, because the foul line kept doing the rest.

Sykes scored 15 against the team she finished last season with. Juskaite made a career-high four threes on five tries, scoring 14 and posting a game-best plus-25. Conde added 13, her second straight game in double figures, and hit three of her four attempts from deep. For a roster this new, that is a lot of rookies playing like they have been here for years.

Seattle got real production from two players, which was part of the problem on a day when the Storm needed five. Natisha Hiedeman scored 18 with seven assists on 7-of-12 shooting. Jordan Horston scored a season-high 15, nearly double her previous best of eight, and added four steals. The Storm were again without Dominique Malonga, who missed her sixth straight game while in the concussion protocol.

The Turning Point: Three Straight Turnovers at 51-All

Everything swung on those possessions after Samuelson's tying shot. A team that had just clawed back from an eight-point hole after one quarter gave the ball away three times in a row, and Toronto was off and running. The Tempo finished with 17 fast-break points to Seattle's four and turned the Storm's 18 turnovers into 23 points. The free throws made this game look surreal, but the mistakes in that three-minute window are what actually tilted the floor. And every time Seattle fouled, Toronto made it hurt. The Storm were whistled 20 times to the Tempo's 13.

Stats That Matter

• 31-of-33: Toronto at the line. Seattle attempted eight free throws all game.
• 24: The Tempo's advantage in made free throws (31 to 7), larger than the 21-point final margin.
• 65-62: Seattle's edge in points from the field. The Storm made more shots, 29 to 26, and had more assists, 21 to 14, and lost by 21 anyway.
• 23-6: Toronto's advantage in points off turnovers.
• 7-of-27: Seattle from three. The AP notes the Storm are 3-0 when they shoot 38 percent or better from deep and 0-6 when they do not.

What It Means

Toronto moves to 5-4 and has won two straight after a 111-104 win at Chicago. The Tempo are 2-2 at home, and both wins came against Seattle, including the 86-73 game on May 13 that gave the franchise its first win. They visit New York on Wednesday, where former Liberty coach Sandy Brondello gets a homecoming of sorts.

Seattle falls to 3-6 and 1-3 on the road, its second straight loss. The Storm have a quick turnaround with a Monday game at Dallas, and they will need a very different shooting night to get anything out of it. It would also help to get to the foul line more than eight times.

Somebody Cranked the Slider

Thirty-one straight free throws is the kind of thing you expect to see after someone opens the settings menu in a basketball video game and drags a slider all the way to the right. It is not supposed to happen on a Saturday afternoon in May for a team that won its first game in franchise history a little over two weeks ago, and it is definitely not supposed to involve seven different shooters. Key will hear about those last two misses in the locker room for a while. Everyone else on the Tempo gets to say they were part of a WNBA record, and that is a pretty good day at the office.

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