Record 20,996 Crowd Sees Wings Beat Tempo 108-95 in Montreal
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Dallas Wings beat the expansion Toronto Tempo 108-95 at Montreal's Bell Centre before a WNBA regular-season record crowd of 20,996, breaking the prior mark of 20,711 set in Washington on Sept. 19, 2024.
- Paige Bueckers scored 34 points on 13-of-22 shooting with six assists and six rebounds to lead Dallas, while Jessica Shepard added 20 points and 17 rebounds and Arike Ogunbowale and Azzi Fudd each chipped in 20 and 13 points, respectively.
- Marina Mabrey matched Bueckers with 34 points — including 6-of-9 from three — and Laura Juskaite added 25 for the Tempo, who have now lost four straight at 9-13.
- Toronto Tempo coach Sandy Brondello framed the franchise as 'Canada's team,' noting the club will face New York in Montreal on Sunday and has two games scheduled in Vancouver, British Columbia.
- Dallas coach Jose Fernandez said the crowd 'shows the trajectory of where the WNBA is and what the franchise in Toronto is doing for basketball fans in Canada.'
- Bell Centre also hosted the largest Professional Women's Hockey League crowd in history, drawing 21,105 for a Montreal-Toronto game on April 20, 2024 — the venue's latest proof of concept for women's sports.
- The WNBA's two largest crowds ever — both 22,076 — came in Detroit during the 2003 and 2007 WNBA Finals, meaning Friday's regular-season mark still trails postseason gates but signals a North American growth path.
Why it matters: The 20,996-person crowd topped the WNBA regular-season record of 20,711 set in Washington in September 2024, arriving as the expansion Tempo — the league's lone Canadian franchise — announced future games in Vancouver and a Sunday rematch in Montreal against New York, signaling demand for women's basketball north of the border even as Toronto dropped to a four-game losing skid.
