Trio of troubles doom Storm in latest road loss to Tempo in Toronto
It's difficult to pinpoint what was most distressing about the Storm's latest loss considering a trifecta of troubles led to Saturday's 93-72 defeat to the Toronto Tempo in front of a sellout crowd of 8,210 at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
Let's start with the obvious: a ridiculous 33-8 free-throw disparity.
"Thirty-three-to-eight is a really tough disparity to overcome," coach Sonia Raman said. "We took 38 shots in the paint compared to 27 threes. They took 23 shots in the paint, compared to 29 threes. There were definitely opportunities there. I thought we were being pretty aggressive.
"There are different ways that you're going to get to the line and it's not always just a drive. Sometimes it's a post-up, sometimes it's a screen. So, there's a lot of different ways that the physicality presents itself, and overcoming 33-8 was definitely a challenge."
The Tempo set a WNBA record by converting their first 31 free throws before missing the last two in the final minute. The Storm sunk 7 of 8, but they attempted a season low from the charity stripe.
Still, when Raman reviews the lopsided loss, she's going to focus on the Storm's 18 turnovers that led to 23 points for the Tempo.
"That's more within our control, so that's where I'm going to focus my attention and how it can be better in that area," Raman said. "That's probably the first place that we'll go to in terms of our offense and how we can get better in our process, our spacing, our decision making and our reads.
"That's probably going to (be the focus) a lot more. There's only so much you can do when it comes to the free-throw discrepancy."
And the last area that doomed the Storm in their rematch against the Tempo was their horrific three-point shooting.
Aside from Natisha Hiedeman, who drained three three-pointers for a game-high-tying 18 points, no one else made more than one shot behind the arc for Seattle, which was 7-of-27 from outside.
In their previous outing, a 78-64 loss to the Washington Mystics on Wednesday, the Storm shot 5 of 23 on three-pointers.
It's still relatively early in the 44-game season, but the Storm (3-6) have converted at least eight three-pointers and shot better than 38% from long range in each of their wins.
Due to an unreliable perimeter offense, several missed layups and an inability to generate points on free throws, the Storm, who rank next to last in the WNBA in scoring at 78.7 points per game, had difficulty keeping pace with the Tempo, who tallied a franchise-record 111 points in their previous outing.
And yet, despite their offensive shortcomings, the Storm erased an 11-point first-half deficit and knotted the score at 51 points apiece late in the third quarter.
Almost identical to their last encounter, an 86-73 Tempo win on May 13, everything unraveled for Seattle during a decisive 3:50 spurt when Toronto finished the period with a 19-5 run for a 70-56 lead.
The Storm never got closer than 11 points and trailed by 25 in the fourth quarter.
On the same court two weeks ago, Seattle lost control of the game during a four-minute stretch in the third quarter when Toronto used a 16-6 run that turned a one-point deficit into a 65-56 lead.
"There's runs that we have to battle, especially when you're on the road," Raman said. "Generally speaking, we have to take better care of the ball. Some really good looks, we counted our missed shots at the rim and missed a few more than we normally would. Between that and the turnovers, it just made it really challenging in terms of our defense.
"We lost the possession battle, and I think that was really hard for us."
Marina Mabrey scored 18 points while Kiki Rice had 17, Brittney Sykes 15 and Laura Juskaite 14 for the Tempo (5-4), who shot 44.1% from the field and 34.5% (10-of-29) on three-pointers.
The Storm are riding a three-game losing streak on the road and they finish their two-game road trip Monday against the Dallas Wings (5-3).
"Going into Dallas, it's a high-octane offense, they got three really good guards," guard Jade Melbourne said about Paige Bueckers, Arike Ogunbowale and Azzi Fudd. "They've got good post players. Jess Shepard is coming off a historic game."
In the Wings' previous outing, a 95-87 win against the Las Vegas Aces on Thursday, Shepard tallied 22 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists.
"It's a quick turnaround," Melbourne said. "Just making sure we learn and we process this game because there's a lot of things we need to take away, and we know we need to be better. … We know they've got a highly skilled and talented team, but we know we'll come best prepared and we're looking forward to Monday."
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This story was originally published May 30, 2026 at 4:59 PM.