​MONTREAL (AP) — Marina Mabrey poured in 30 points, Nyara Sabally delivered the decisive basket with 52 seconds remaining after Toronto squandered a 20-point advantage, and the Tempo edged the New York Liberty 93-91 Sunday at the Bell Centre. Mabrey notched her second straight 30-point effort and her fifth of the season, a list that already includes a 53-point outburst—a WNBA single-game record-tying performance—in a 125-97 victory over Los Angeles on June 25.
Breanna Stewart tied the game with a layup at 1:30, but Julie Allemand, who dished out 10 assists, found Sabally for the go-ahead layup as Toronto snapped a four-game slide—the longest drought of their expansion season. Sabrina Ionescu contributed 28 points and Stewart added 22 for the Liberty (13-11), who have dropped seven of their past nine. Jonquel Jones posted 10 points and 10 rebounds. For the Tempo, Laura Juskaite had 18 points, Maria Conde added 15, and Sabally chipped in 13 as Toronto (10-13) led 74-54 late in the third quarter.
The Liberty mounted a 16-4 surge as Toronto committed five turnovers, trimming the deficit to 84-80 when Ionescu converted a layup with 5:36 to go. The Tempo halted a three-game slide when they held a lead entering the final period. Toronto, however, was outscored 27-13 in the fourth quarter and now carries a minus-49 point differential in its last five fourth quarters.
In the earlier stage of the Bell Centre clash, Mabrey produced 34 points in Friday’s defeat to Dallas, a 108-95 loss that followed a record-setting crowd of 20,996 at the venue for a WNBA regular-season game. Toronto will also play two home games at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, later this season.
An incident near the end of the game saw Betnijah Laney-Hamilton of New York ejected for throwing a shoe at Mabrey. Both Laney-Hamilton and Mabrey drew double technical fouls after a scuffle in the third quarter.
Upcoming schedule: Liberty visit Dallas on Tuesday. Tempo welcomes Washington on Tuesday.