TORONTO (AP) — Brittney Sykes scored 25 points, Nyara Sabally added 15 and the Toronto Tempo beat the Chicago Sky 85-68 on Sunday.
Isabelle Harrison, who missed the first 10 games of the season with a thumb injury, finished with 14 points in her season debut and Laura Juskaite scored 10 for the Tempo (6-5). Marina Mabrey added nine points, six assists, four rebounds, two steals and a block.
Azura Stevens had a season-high 18 points and 10 rebounds for Chicago, her second consecutive game with a double-double. Gabriela Jaquez (knee) returned from a four-game absence and finished with 11 points, and Jacy Sheldon scored 10.
The Sky (4-7) beat Connecticut 85-80 on Friday to snap a five-game skid.
Harrison hit a 3-pointer with 4:12 left in the first quarter that made it 20-9 and the Tempo led by double figures the rest of the way.
The Tempo set season lows for 3-pointers made (four) and 3-point percentage (18.2%).
SPARKS 89, FIRE 72
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nneka Ogwumike had 20 points and a season-high 17 rebounds, Dearica Hamby added 22 points and 12 rebounds and Los Angeles beat Portland to snap their three-game losing streak.
Ogwumike had her third consecutive double-double and fifth this season. Kelsey Plum finished with 16 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals for the Sparks (5-6). Rae Burrell added 10 points.
Megan Gustafson had 16 points and a season-high 12 rebounds, her first double-double since 2023, for the Fire (6-7). Carla Leite and Emily Engstler added 10 points apiece.
Portland committed nine — which included six steals by LA — of its 15 turnovers and was 5-of-14 shooting as it was outscored 23-12 in the third, the Fire’s lowest-scoring quarter this season. Plum had nine points and two assists, while Hamby scored seven in the period to help the Sparks take a 64-55 lead into the fourth.
Plum stole the ball from Leite, then threw it ahead to Hamby for a fast-break layup that capped an 11-2 run and gave Los Angeles an 18-point lead with 6:07 to play.
Toronto Tempo forward Isabelle Harrison celebrates her three-point basket against the Chicago Sky during the second half of a WNBA basketball game in Toronto, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Rob Sand rallied a crowd for the first time as the official Democratic nominee for Iowa governor on Sunday, kicking off a countdown to November with the support of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
The race for governor between Sand and Republican Zach Lahn stands to be one of the most competitive in the country as Iowans face a state budget deficit, struggling agricultural economy and cancer crisis. Democrats are putting faith in him to blaze a trail in the state after struggling electorally in recent cycles, hoping his message of unity will resonate with their fellow Iowans.
A few hundred people in Des Moines roared, waved campaign signs and snapped photos as Sand took the stage, a state flag hanging behind him.
“You might think we have a big hill to climb. I've seen bigger,” Sand said. “We're building a coalition of — not red versus blue — but of the well-fed versus the fed-up.”
Sand, who was unopposed on the primary ballot, learned who his opponent would be after Tuesday’s primary settled an unpredictable five-way Republican contest.
The rally was the first one that Tracy Schloss has ever attended. A lifelong Democrat, Schloss said he doesn't like the state's direction after nearly a decade of total Republican control, saying the leaders have “lost sight of the common people.”
“It's time, you gotta step up or the country will still keep going the way it's going," said the 62-year-old retiree from Ankeny, a suburb of Des Moines.
Schloss said he thinks Sand is a “bright spot" who can get voters excited, and he's more optimistic than he's been in recent years that the election will be a success for Democrats.
Iowa has open races for both governor and U.S. senator for the first time since 1968, plus three battleground congressional races. National attention on the state has soared in recent months, drawing President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance to Iowa.
Democrats still have a 200,000-person deficit in statewide voter registration, and they are outnumbered in every House district. Sand, along with Senate candidate Josh Turek, say they can win over independents and Republicans who are frustrated with party politics and a Republican trifecta in Washington and Des Moines that they blame for the state's challenges.
Turek will face U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who already has portrayed Turek as a liberal puppet for party leader Sen. Chuck Schumer.
Lahn has also rejected Sand's nonpartisan pitch.
“Rob Sand is not a moderate,” Lahn said in his victory speech Tuesday. “He’s a liberal career politician pretending to be someone he’s not.”
As he has during campaign events over the past year, Sand asked attendees to sing the first verse of “America the Beautiful.” And when he introduced himself, he talked about his upbringing hunting, fishing and going to church.
Even if Sand is elected governor in November, he will likely have to work with Republican majorities in the state House and Senate, which recently passed bills to restrict the executive’s power that outgoing Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law.
Sand said it's good to have balance rather than a political system centered around amassing power and punishing political enemies.
“We have found ourselves in this position because we have too many people who want us to only think about red or blue,” Sand said Sunday. “Red and blue are colors.”
Neither Sand nor Lahn use their party's traditional blue or red in campaign materials, opting instead for green. They both say they aren’t beholden to their party establishments and that Iowans want a new direction, though Lahn’s Republican Party has held a statehouse trifecta for nearly a decade.
Little known before his bid for governor, Lahn made a splash as a business owner criticizing farm consolidation and tax breaks for corporate giants, a regenerative farmer who subscribes to Robert F. Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement and a former political operative who galvanized Iowa’s conservative grassroots.
Sand’s campaign has given about $750,000 to the Iowa Democratic Party already this cycle, funding that Republicans call hypocritical for a candidate who claims he is not a party man. The Sand campaign says that sum reflects his investment in a state party-run coordinated campaign that will help him get elected as governor, even as it also supports candidates up and down the ballot.
“Rob Sand loves to talk about rising above the ‘two-party system’ — right up until it’s time to campaign, cash checks, and share the stage with Democrat Party insiders," Iowa Republican spokeswoman Jade Cichy said in a statement Sunday.
Beshear, chair of the Democratic Governors Association and a potential presidential candidate in 2028, told a cheering crowd Sunday that he's “all in” for electing Sand.
As Democrats continue to debate what went wrong in 2024 and the direction of the party, Beshear has offered up his own example as the leader of a red state for lessons on how the party can go forward.
“I am living, breathing proof that Democrats can win anywhere, and we should be fighting everywhere,” Beshear told the crowd Sunday.
In addition to rallying with Sand, Beshear also attended a “Beers with Beshear” fundraiser for congressional candidate Sarah Trone Garriott, who wants to unseat Republican Rep. Zach Nunn in the competitive House district that includes Des Moines. Beshear told The Associated Press that he would see Turek, too.
The Democratic Governors Association, which Beshear chairs, gave the Iowa Democratic Party about $140,000 so far this cycle, according to filing reports.
Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand speaks during a campaign rally, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand poses for a photo with supporters during a campaign rally, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear poses for a photos during a campaign rally for Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand speaks during a campaign rally, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, left, greets Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear during a campaign rally, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Iowa democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand speaks to media after voting on primary Election Day, Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Bryon Houlgrave)
