All the celebrities who showed up for Toronto Tempo's WNBA debut

It was a historic evening at the Coca-Cola Coliseum on Friday night.

Not only that, but there was drama right until the final buzzer.

The Toronto Tempo played their first WNBA game on Friday in front of a sold-out crowd of 8,210 at the Coca-Cola Coliseum.

It wasn't just the raucous fans who were in attendance to watch the close affair, as athletes and celebrities from Toronto showed their support for the expansion squad.

A few members of the Toronto Raptors showed up, including Sandro Mamukelashvili, Immanuel Quickley and Chris Boucher. 

Masai Ujiri was also sitting courtside. The architect of the 2019 NBA champions is one of the owners of the Tempo. He was also recently named President of the Dallas Mavericks.

Another former Raptor had a front row seat for history. After sitting down with blogTO's Phoebe Knight earlier this week to give some unorthodox food takes, Serge Ibaka was in attendance. He also snapped a photo with actress Lily Singh, who has nearly five million followers on Instagram.

Other sports stars from the city watched the action. That included Emma Maltais and Darryl Watts of the PWHL's Toronto Sceptres, along with AFC Toronto members Nikayla Small and Kaylee Hunter.

Chris Tanev and Steven Lorentz of the Toronto Maple Leafs were also in attendance to join the festivities.

However, the loudest cheer of the night seemed to be for Canadian sports icon Christine Sinclair, who was spotted sitting with track and field star Andre De Grasse.

 

 

 

 

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Although Toronto surrendered a slight lead to the Washington Mystics early on, the game was tied 65-65 with 18 seconds remaining. Still, it ended as a slight loss for the Tempo, as they fell 68-65 in their first contest.

It was a great moment," Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello said following the loss, referring to the energy in the building. "Sad that we didn't win the game, but the fans were fantastic."

"It was a very ugly game," she said. "Hopefully, they get way prettier than that as we move forward."

Some sloppiness on the court is to be expected for an expansion team playing its first game. However, seven-year WNBA veteran Marina Mabrey stepped up offensively for the Tempo, recording 27 of the team's 65 points.

Toronto's next shot at recording its first win in franchise history comes on Wednesday, May 13, at home versus the Seattle Storm.