Time, Overtime!

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I’ll admit I was heavily considering going with a Caitlin Clark column this week. Our first tilt against Indiana is happening on Tuesday, and love her or hate her, she’s still the biggest name in the game. And I have opinions a-plenty about that, as I imagine most fans do. Plus, I was starting to wonder if I – and you, my readers – needed a break from recaps. Especially for those of you watching the games as slavishly as me, thanks to the power of my prose!

But then something happened to change my mind, which funnily enough also happened for the Fever this past week – an overtime win.

And I absolutely had to talk about that.

So much so that I’m tempted to skip right past Sunday’s 85-68 victory over the Sky. But far be it from me to pass up a quick “I told you so” – Isabelle Harrison made her season debut and put up fourteen points on six-for-nine shooting, with six boards, two dimes, and a steal. Add in Nyara Sabally’s line – fifteen points, seven-for-fourteen, six rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a block – and it was a good demonstration that our forward situation might not be as dire as many claim it is. Sure, it was one game… but for that one night, I could tell those who claim the sky is falling, “No, the Sky is falling!”

And then explain what I did there, because it works much better when you can see the text.

It’s also important to touch on that game for context. You have to know that our record when we faced the Sun was six-and-five, while theirs was two-and-eleven. Meaning this was the first game we were expected to win.

To be clear, it likely wasn’t the first game where we were favored to win. I’m not going to check, because gambling, yuck… though again, sponsorship opportunities available, parasites welcome! But either way, it was the first game, in my estimation, where losing would’ve been truly disappointing. And as a fan, that’s Alanis-style-ironically a no-win situation.

Or so I thought.

Because, yes, a loss would’ve been saddening, and a win would’ve been fine but blah, kind of like mediocre pizza. Though if you’re reading that, Pizza Pizza, again, sponsorship opportunities, etc.

Anyhoo, turns out there was a third option – an averted loss / OT win!

Maybe this would have felt different with some distance, like if I’d been watching on TV, especially on delay. Then the overwhelming emotion likely would’ve been relief. But in the arena, experiencing it live, the feeling was pure exhilaration.

To be clear, it never quite felt like a miracle was going to be needed. The biggest lead Connecticut had was fourteen, very early in the third quarter. And Leila Lacan was killing us, but she was bound to cool off at some point, right? And technically she did, though not before putting up a WNBA career-best twenty-four and fouling out.

But it did feel like one of those nights where maybe things just weren’t going to go our way. Those flowers I gave to our forwards earlier? I’m going to briefly take them back. Izzy missed a bunny, Nyara missed a bunny, and Teoni Key missed a bunny in a whole different way. It was a crazy play where she got the rebound, and had the ball in the key, and was looking to kick it out – and missed the fact that her defender had gone and there was no one between her and the basket!

They did good things too, to be clear. But yeah, it felt like maybe the gods weren’t on our side entirely…

And looking at the box score, it’s not so bad as I thought, but I remember desperately wanting Julie Allemand to shoot more. Which admittedly is also partially a function of missing Kiki Rice.

But regardless, if you’re looking for a definition of character, particularly in a team, it’s the ability to ignore that little voice that says it might not happen. The Tempo battled… and as they did, we all bought in. And the crowd was not only raucous when it needed to be, it managed something amazing.

It got silent.

Deadly silent.

Well, not deadly, but by crowd standards, you could hear a pin drop. I mean, it would probably have to be a pin six foot longer or more, but again, for thousands of people, that’s incredible.

Funnily enough, it came as Slim was shooting free throws, as that’s become Tempo tradition – booing when opponents are at the stripe, quiet when we are. And we freaked her out!

As a public service announcement, I’m going to share this vid of her post-game saying she doesn’t want it THAT quiet ever again!

Okay. Slim wants some sound, and we will oblige. Quick actors’ trick for those of you who haven’t trod the boards: for good crowd rumbling, try using “Rhubarb” and “Peas and carrots.” Or, you know, just talk.

That said, we couldn’t have freaked Slim out TOO much. She was a perfect thirteen-for-thirteen from the free throw line… and managed thirty-eight in total. And for those of you with good memories, yes, that matches her career high. It was also her third game this season with thirty-plus, which leads the league.

We shouldn’t forget our other (if there’s any justice) All-Star, though. Mabrey knocked down a three to open the overtime scoring, then added a jump shot to tie it up again with just over a minute to go. THEN, after Slim scored on a drive to the hoop, Chef came up with a lead- and win-preserving steal!

And hey, shout out to Laura Juskaite, who managed a season-high nineteen points and a remarkable four steals!

Much as I love writing about this stuff, I know I’m not doing justice to the experience. But trust me, there’s nothing like a comeback in front of an invested home crowd. And given that we were up against an MNBA Finals game AND we were facing the worst team (by record) in the league, you knew it was the hard-core fans there. And we were all riding-and-dying together. It’s not something I’ll soon forget.

Remarkably, we almost got the same experience, road version, in our next game. But it would have been even crazier.

Against the Mystics on Friday, we were down by sixteen with 5:04 remaining. And with 3:46 remaining, Mabrey went nuts.

I had to check the box score to make sure I got this right. This is what she did:

• A layup at 3:46

• Three free throws, all made, at 3:06

• A steal at 3:00

• A Conde layup, with a Mabrey assist, at 2:56

• A three at 2:16

• Another three at 1:51

• ANOTHER three with an and-one, i.e. a FOUR-POINT PLAY, at 1:16

• ANOTHER THREE at 0:32

At which point we were down by ONE POINT. Then a Mystics miss, a rebound by Izzy, a timeout, and a layup by Slim to give us a ONE-POINT LEAD WITH ELEVEN SECONDS LEFT! Then, after a Mystics timeout, a TIE-UP AND JUMP BALL BETWEEN SLIM AND LAUREN BETTS WITH TWO TICKS ON THE CLOCK!

And then Sonia Citron came up with the jump ball and scored a buzzer-beater. Final score: 86-85.

Hey, they won’t all be happy endings. And I’m sure at some point, possibly soon, I’ll write about a general topic of interest instead of simply recounting what happened. But with this week of games, the last two especially, I’m very glad to have a record of what I saw from my perspective, because hot damn, folks, that was exciting and win AND lose, that’s what sports is meant to be!

I feel like people who don’t follow women’s basketball still know a couple names… and this week is when two people who bear those names play the Tempo for the first time.

On Sunday, we’ve got the Dream, featuring one Angel Reese. Though slightly more sophisticated fans may be more excited for Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard, more whimsically patriotic fans might want to see Jordin Canada, and Tempo-nostalgic fans might be glad to see the return of Aaliyah Nye.

Then on Tuesday, as I mentioned in the opening paragraph, we’re in Indiana to take on the Fever. And one slightly catty but informative thing I was going to throw in to my Caitlin Clark report was she’s less likely these days to be in a GOAT debate and more likely to be in a GOHT debate, i.e. “greatest on her team.” Which is my roundabout way of saying Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston are equally worth looking forward to. Pay attention, all!

And on Friday, we face Connecticut again, though this time on their (for now) home soil. Could be a good one, especially if they have revenge on their mind. And if it is a good one, well, you’ll likely read about it here!