The Dallas Wings (12-8) have been one of the most exciting teams in the WNBA this year, and their first trip north of the border could be another barnburner. The Wings will square off with the expansion Toronto Tempo (9-10) on Sunday at 2 p.m. from Coca-Cola Coliseum.
Dallas has gotten into a bad habit of starting games slowly over their last 10, resulting in just a 5-5 record in that span. Those five wins have been thrilling, though probably more so for fans than first-year head coach Jose Fernandez.
Advertisement
Second-year superstar Paige Bueckers has been the constant, as Arike Ogunbowale has struggled to get going of late. Jessica Shepard, who will join Bueckers as an All-Star starter this year, and rookie sharpshooter Azzi Fudd, have stepped in nicely, though. And it shouldn’t be lost on anyone that Thursday’s 86-83 win at the Connecticut Sun was Alanna Smith’s first sans face mask, after suffering a facial injury in the preseason.
If Smith can get going, this may be an inflection point for the Wings’ season as they hope to get back into the playoffs for the first time since 2023. Here are three things to look out for when Dallas faces the Tempo in a Sunday matinee.
Paige (Clutch) Buckets
Bueckers enters Sunday’s game in Toronto having scored 25 or more points in each of her last four. In fact, she’s scored exactly 25 points in each of the Wings’ last three games. Bueckers has come up huge at the end of the Wings’ last three wins, in clutch wins at home against the Chicago Sky, in overtime at the Seattle Storm and on Thursday at the Sun.
Advertisement
Bueckers has scored more than nine fourth-quarter points per game across her last five, cementing herself as one of the best clutch players in today’s WNBA with huge moment after huge moment late in games. On Thursday, it was back-to-back three-point plays to help the Wings overcome a 14-point second-half deficit in Dallas’ 86-83 win at the Sun. She scored 17 in the last minute and change of the fourth quarter plus overtime in the Wings’ thrilling 112-110 win at the Storm.
She seems to do something every game that defies conceivability. You can see her focus turn up a notch late in a close game. The bigger the moment, the more Bueckers seems to revel in it.
A day of firsts
Sunday is the Wings’ first-ever matchup against the Tempo and the team’s first-ever visit to Toronto. The Tempo, after all, are the WNBA’s first and only international team.
Advertisement
Coca-Cola Coliseum, the Tempo’s home arena, seats about 8,500 when configured for basketball, but things will be quite different when the Wings travel north of the border for the second time this season, just five days later. That game will take place in Montreal’s Bell Centre, which holds 22,114. If that game sells out, it could come close to setting a new attendance record for a WNBA game.
The Tempo have seen their fandom grow across the Great White North in their first year as a WNBA franchise. Although the Tempo did not select any Wings in the 2026 WNBA expansion draft, they are led by veterans Marina Mabrey and Isabelle Harrison, who have both spent time in Dallas (Mabrey 2020-22, Harrison 2019-22).
Watch out for Mabrey in return
Which brings us to our electric matchup alert for Sunday afternoon. Opposite Paige Bueckers, who is tearing up nets everywhere she goes with the Wings recently, Tempo guard Marina Mabrey is having a renaissance year in her first season in Toronto. Her highest scoring average for a season was just north of 15 points per game in 2023, her first year after leaving Dallas. This year, she’s averaging 21.2 points, 3.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game as a focal point of the Tempo’s offense alongside Brittney Sykes in the backcourt, who also averages just north of 20 points per game.
Advertisement
Mabrey tied the single-game WNBA scoring record with 53 points in a 125-97 rout of the Los Angeles Sparks on June 25. She went 17-of-28 from the field and made 9-of-18 from 3-point range in the win.
She was sidelined with neck spasms for the Tempo’s next game, an 89-80 loss to the Phoenix Mercury on June 27, but is not listed on the injury report for Sunday’s game against the Wings. Sykes, however, is out with a left foot injury, so look for Dallas’ defense to key on Mabrey in her first game since that 53-point outburst.
How to watch
The Wings and the Tempo tip off at 2 p.m. on Sunday from Coca-Cola Coliseum. The game will be broadcast locally on KFAA Channel 29 and on sister stations throughout the Wings’ viewership region. It will also be streamed on WNBA League Pass, where available.
