Marina Mabrey (born September 14, 1996)[1] is an American professional basketball player for the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Mabrey was drafted in the second round (19th pick overall) by the Los Angeles Sparks in the 2019 WNBA draft. She previously played with the United States women's national under-19 basketball team and the University of Notre Dame.

Marina Mabrey
Mabrey with the Chicago Sky in 2024
No. 4 – Connecticut Sun
PositionShooting guard
LeagueWNBA
Personal information
Born (1996-09-14) September 14, 1996 (age 28)
Belmar, New Jersey, U.S.
Listed height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Listed weight170 lb (77 kg)
Career information
High schoolManasquan
(Manasquan, New Jersey)
CollegeNotre Dame (2015–2019)
WNBA draft2019: 2nd round, 19th overall pick
Selected by the Los Angeles Sparks
Playing career2019–present
Career history
20192020Los Angeles Sparks
2019–2020TTT Riga
20202022Dallas Wings
2020–2021Bnot Hertzeliya
2021–2022Perth Lynx
2022-2023Beretta Famila Schio
20232024Chicago Sky
2023–2024Çukurova Basketbol
2024–presentConnecticut Sun
2025–presentPhantom BC
Career highlights and awards
Stats at WNBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Women's Basketball
Representing  United States
U18 and U19
Gold medal – first place 2014 U18 Colorado Springs Team Competition
Representing Beretta Famila Schio
EuroLeague Women
Bronze medal – third place 2023 Prague Beretta Famila Schio
Lega Basket Femminile
Gold medal – first place 2023 Schio Beretta Famila Schio

Mabrey was traded to the Dallas Wings in 2020.[2] She has played internationally in Latvia (TTT Riga),[3] Israel (Bnot Hertzeliya),[4] Australia (Perth Lynx),[5] Italy (PF Schio),[6] and Turkey (Çukurova Basketbol).

Early life

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Mabrey was raised in Belmar, New Jersey to Patti and Roy Mabrey.[7] She has two brothers Ryan and Roy and two sisters Michaela and Dara. It was Roy's and Michaela's love of basketball that first involved Marina in the game. Her mother coached basketball in their area and Marina, Roy and Michaela would go along with their mother and join in the practices. Fierce basketball competition became a part of family life in the Mabrey household with Marina frequently competing with her older brother and sister in their driveway and local park.[8][9][10]

Mabrey attended Manasquan High School in Manasquan, New Jersey, where she was part of two teams that won the state Tournament of Champions[11] and shared most valuable player honors in the McDonald's All-American Game in 2015.[10]

Despite her sister Michaela's success as part of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team[9] Marina doubted whether or not to choose that college when she was considering many offers for a basketball scholarship after high school. She chose to join up with coach Muffet McGraw's squad in 2015.[10]

College career

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Mabrey joined sister Michaela in the 2015–16 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team following a season in which the team were runners-up in the national championship but required to be rebuilt. She quickly established herself and won "rookie of the week" in November 2015 after recording a triple-double at Valparaiso. Her 35 appearances as a rookie, 85 three-pointers (which ranks as the second most for a single season in program history) and an impressive 10.7 points per game gained her honors in the ACC All-Freshman Team (Blue Ribbon Panel & Coaches) and ACC All-Academic Team.[12]

The 2016–17 Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team reached the Elite Eight but fell for the second year running to Stanford Cardinal women's basketball. Mabrey was chosen along with Arike Ogunbowale and Lindsay Allen for the regional all-tournament team.[12]

The Notre Dame team for the following two years saw records fall, two national championship games and one championship victory. Mabrey was a key component of a team that survived a rash of injuries that won the 2018 national championship and commented later that the injuries had given the now smaller team an added mental toughness that "there is no-one else to sub in" and that they had to battle through.[13] The fighting mentality led to comebacks throughout the season with Mabrey moving to a more direct point guard role and taking more leadership with the largest fightback in Notre Dame history coming back against Tennessee from 23 points behind. The team executed the largest comeback in a championship game in NCAA women's basketball history, overcoming a 15-point deficit to achieve a 61–58 victory over fellow No. 1 seed Mississippi State.[14]

She graduated in 2019 as Notre Dame's all-time leader in made three-pointers with 274; 1,896 career points ranks eighth all-time and a career 81.7 percent from the line – ranking sixth for Notre Dame.[12]

Professional career

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WNBA

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Los Angeles Sparks (2019)

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Mabrey with the LA Sparks in 2019.

Mabrey was drafted 19th overall in the 2019 WNBA draft by the Los Angeles Sparks.[15][16] The Sparks, under new head coach Derek Fisher, reached the play-off semi-finals with a regular season record of 22–12.[17] Mabrey saw limited minutes during the playoffs.[18] She appeared in 31 games with the Sparks during her rookie season and averaged 4.0 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.0 assists while shooting 34.4% from the field.[19]

Dallas Wings (2020-22)

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Prior to the 2020 WNBA season, Mabrey was traded by the Sparks to the Dallas Wings for a 2021 second round draft choice.[19] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 WNBA season was reduced to a 22-game regular season at IMG Academy, without fans present.[20] In 19 games for the Wings, Mabrey averaged 10.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game.[21]

Mabrey returned to the Dallas Wings for the 2021 WNBA season.[21]

Chicago Sky (2023-2024)

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On February 11, 2023, Mabrey was traded to the Chicago Sky in a four-team trade also involving the New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury, Dallas Wings.

Connecticut Sun (2024–present)

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On July 17, 2024, Mabrey and a 2025 2nd round pick from the Chicago Sky, was traded to the Connecticut Sun in exchange for guards Rachel Banham and Moriah Jefferson, a 2025 1st round pick and the rights to swap 2026 first round picks.

Overseas

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For the 2019–20 season, Mabrey moved to Latvia to play for TTT Riga.[22] In her first game[23] she scored 24 points and led her team with eight rebounds to win 89–81 over defending champions UMMC Ekaterinburg which contained WNBA players Brittney Griner, Courtney Vandersloot and Emma Meesseman. Riga won only two of the following nine matches that were played.[24] Mabrey settled in well in a young team[25] and at the suspension of play she was eighth in the league in points per game (15.8).[26] She left Latvia in mid-March after European play was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[27][28]

For the 2020–21 season, Mabrey moved to Israel to play for Bnot Hertzeliya. In 22 games, she averaged 23.2 points, 8.0 rebounds, 6.9 assists and 2.4 steals per game.[21]

Mabrey signed with the Perth Lynx in Australia for the 2021–22 WNBL season.[29] In her debut for the Lynx on January 2, 2022, she scored a game-high 30 points with seven 3-pointers in an 88–86 loss to the Adelaide Lightning.[30] On January 23, she scored 34 points in an 86–81 win over the Sydney Uni Flames.[31] Following this game, she was unavailable for over a month due to a foot injury[32][33] but returned to contribute to the Lynx ending the season as runners-up in the WBNL to Melbourne Boomers after losing the final series by two matches to one.[34]

In 2023 she won her first national title since the 2018 NCAA tournament when she and team Famila Schio won the Coppa Italia beating Venezia 73–62 with Mabrey scoring eleven points in the final.[35] Having qualified for the Scudetto playoffs, Mabrey's twenty four points and dominant performance in the third quarter of the quarter final pulled her team from a weak first half against Campobasso to a twenty four point victory. She followed this up two weeks later with seventeen point performance and vital bucket and interception in the last seconds to win a bronze medal with PF Schio for third place in the 2022–23 EuroLeague Women finals in Prague. This was the first medal performance for an Italian team in twenty years and PF Schio's first ever appearance in the finals.[36] Within two weeks she added the gold medal for the Italian championship turning in a thirty seven point performance in the final game including a crucial three pointer in the last seconds as PF Schio beat Virtus Bologna 84–79 in the decisive second match of the play-offs.[37]

Unrivaled

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On August 17, 2024, it was announced that Mabrey would appear and play in the inaugural season of Unrivaled, a new women's 3x3 basketball league founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart.[38]

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader
* Denotes season(s) in which Mabrey won an NCAA Championship

WNBA

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Regular season

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Stats current through end of 2024 season

WNBA regular season statistics[39]
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2019 Los Angeles 31 0 11.5 .344 .273 .875 1.2 1.0 0.6 0.2 0.8 4.0
2020 Dallas 19 12 21.3 .430 .418 .667 3.1 2.3 1.3 0.1 1.6 10.0
2021 Dallas 32 8 24.2 .405 .342 .882 3.9 2.9 1.0 0.3 2.1 13.3
2022 Dallas 34 32 28.0 .420 .351 .681 3.6 3.7 0.8 0.4 2.4 13.6
2023 Chicago 39 39 30.0 .411 .390 .836 3.7 3.6 0.7 0.5 2.2 15.0
2024 Chicago 24 24 33.2 .381 .350 .723 4.9 4.5 1.3 0.3 2.8 14.0
Connecticut 16 3 27.4 .467 .424 .682 3.5 3.3 1.0 0.6 1.7 14.9
Career 6 years, 4 teams 195 118 25.1 .410 .365 .776 3.4 3.0 0.9 0.3 2.0 12.1

Playoffs

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WNBA playoff statistics
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2019 Los Angeles 3 0 5.3 .333 .500 1.0 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.3 1.7
2021 Dallas 1 0 17.0 .125 .250 3.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.0
2022 Dallas 3 3 32.7 .429 .455 1.000 4.0 1.7 0.7 0.7 4.7° 15.0
2023 Chicago 2 2 32.5 .348 .222 1.000 3.5 1.5 0.0 1.5 3.0 9.5
2024 Connecticut 7 4 33.0 .368 .339 .923 3.0 2.6 0.1 0.9 1.9 15.9
Career 5 years, 4 teams 16 9 26.7 .368 .341 .944 2.9 1.9 0.2 0.7 2.1 11.4

EuroLeague[40]

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Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2019–20 TTT Riga 9 27.2 .317 .274 .800 4.2 3.9 1.1 0.1 5.0 15.8
2022–23 PF Schio 14 28.8 .403 .362 .633 4.1 3.6 1.2 0.1 2.4 14.7

D1 (Israel)[41]

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Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2020–21 Bnot Hertzeliya 22 .332 .558 .344 .840 8.0 6.9 2.4 0.2 4.6 23.2

WNBL (Australia)[42]

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Year Team GP FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2022 Perth Lynx 16 .385 .350 .803 4.8 2.9 1.3 0.1 2.6 19.1

Italy Seria A[43]

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Year Team GP MIN PTS 2PTS 3PTS FT RO RD RT AS PF BS STL TO
2022–23 PF Schio 26 684 486 99-204 76-103 60-74 23 90 113 80 53 6 26 59

College

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NCAA statistics[44]
Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2015–16 Notre Dame 35 373 51.4% 45.3% 81.7% 2.8 2.0 1.5 0.3 10.7
2016–17 Notre Dame 37 540 47.1% 38.3% 84.3% 3.0 2.5 1.5 0.5 14.6
2017–18* Notre Dame 38 549 45.8% 39.0% 85.7% 4.4 4.4 2.1 0.3 14.4
2018–19 Notre Dame 35 434 46.6% 40.8% 69.4% 2.7 4.9 1.3 0.3 12.4
Career 145 1896 47.4% 40.0% 81.7% 3.2 3.4 1.6 0.4 13.1

Personal life

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In 2019, Mabrey started her own shirts called This Is My Kitchen in reference to sexism in sports and her 2018 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship win which she sold online for a limited time.[45]

References

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  1. ^ "2019 WNBA Draft Profile: Marina Mabrey". Women's National Basketball Association. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  2. ^ "Sparks trade Marina Mabrey to Wings for 2021 second-rounder". February 22, 2019. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  3. ^ "Euroleague women statistics". fiba. Fédération Internationale de Basketball. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  4. ^ Eurobasket. "Marina Mabrey Player Profile, Dallas Wings, News, Stats – Eurobasket". Eurobasket LLC. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  5. ^ "Stats – Perth Lynx". Perth Lynx. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  6. ^ Nemchock, Eric (2022-12-20). "Behind Howard and Mabrey, Famila Schio has become one of ELW's top teams". Swish Appeal. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
  7. ^ "2015–16 Notre Dame Women's Basketball media guide". issuu. Nov 17, 2015. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  8. ^ "Meet The Mabreys: Three sisters making a splash in women's hoops". Yahoo sports. February 20, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Like Mike: Equal parts empathy and skill, Michaela Mabrey has emerged as Notre Dame's fearless leader". Alley Whoops. October 26, 2015. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  10. ^ a b c "Notre Dame Doubles Down on the Mabrey Family From New Jersey". The New York Times. April 3, 2015. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  11. ^ LoGiudice, Daniel. "WNBA Draft 2019: Marina Mabrey selected by Los Angeles Sparks", Asbury Park Press, April 10, 2019. Accessed July 3, 2019. "Mabrey, a Belmar native, became the second player ever from the Shore Conference to be drafted in the WNBA Draft after Neptune and Seton Hall alum Shakena Richardson was selected 30th overall by the Dallas Wings in 2016.... She won two Tournament of Champions titles with Manasquan."
  12. ^ a b c "UND Bio – Marina Mabrey". University of Notre Dame. June 30, 2016. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
  13. ^ Marina Mabrey shares her thoughts on the 2018 National Championship, retrieved 2021-06-26
  14. ^ "Unlikely buzzer-beating shot brings unlikely title for Muffet McGraw's resilient Fighting Irish". ESPN. April 1, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  15. ^ "Marina Mabrey brings versatility to Los Angeles Sparks". High Post Hoops. 2019-04-11. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  16. ^ "Meet Our Rookies: Marina Mabrey". Los Angeles Sparks. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  17. ^ JimSavell (2019-09-25). "Where do the Sparks go from here?". Swish Appeal. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  18. ^ "Stats". Los Angeles Sparks. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  19. ^ a b LoGiudice, Daniel. "Belmar native Marina Mabrey traded to Dallas Wings". Asbury Park Press. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  20. ^ "WNBA announces plans for 2020 season to start late July in Florida". NBC Sports Washington. June 16, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  21. ^ a b c "Marina Mabrey". usbasket.com. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  22. ^ "TTT Rīga basketball club drafts WNBA player Marina Mabrey". eng.lsm.lv. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  23. ^ "TTT Riga v UMMC Ekaterinburg boxscore – EuroLeague Women 2019–20 – 27 November". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  24. ^ "TTT Riga at the EuroLeague Women 2019–20". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  25. ^ "Entrevista | Marina Mabrey, WNBA en Dallas Wings". El Perímetro (in Spanish). 2020-02-25. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  26. ^ "Players statistics of the EuroLeague Women 2019–20". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  27. ^ "Euroleague Basketball competitions suspended". Euroleague. March 12, 2020. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  28. ^ Miller, Hannah (2020-06-15). "WNBA finalizing plan to begin 2020 season amid coronavirus pandemic". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  29. ^ "WNBA SHARPSHOOTING GUARD MARINA MABREY HEADING TO AUSTRALIA TO JOIN THE PERTH LYNX". wnbl.basketball/perth. July 1, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  30. ^ "MABREY STARS IN HEARTBREAKING FIRST UP LYNX LOSS". wnbl.basketball/perth. January 2, 2022. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
  31. ^ "LYNX DIG DEEP TO OVERWHELM FLAMES IN SYDNEY". wnbl.basketball/perth. January 23, 2022. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  32. ^ "Lynx star Mabrey learns severity of foot injury". The West Australian. 2022-01-30. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
  33. ^ "Lynx import Marina Mabrey ruled out again amid foot injury". The West Australian. 2022-02-05. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
  34. ^ "'Missing' WNBL trophy turns up just in time as Boomers thrash Lynx in decider". ABC News. 2022-04-09. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  35. ^ "Serie A1, il Famila Schio conquista la 14° Coppa Italia della propria storia". VicenzaToday (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-04-02.
  36. ^ "Euroleague Women, è tutto vero il Famila Schio batte Praga ed è terzo". VicenzaToday (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  37. ^ "Serie A1 femminile, è tutto vero: il Famila Wuber Schio è ancora Campione d'Italia". VicenzaToday (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  38. ^ @Unrivaledwbb (August 17, 2024). "MARINA MABREY IS UNRIVALED👑 13/30✅" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  39. ^ "Marina Mabrey WNBA Stats". Basketball Reference.
  40. ^ "TTT Riga at the EuroLeague Women 2019–20". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  41. ^ Eurobasket. "Bnot Hertzeliya basketball, News, Roster, Rumors, Stats, Awards, Transactions, Details-eurobasket". Eurobasket LLC. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  42. ^ "Stats – Perth Lynx". Perth Lynx. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  43. ^ Eurobasket. "Marina Mabrey, Basketball Player, News, Stats - Eurobasket". Eurobasket LLC. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  44. ^ "NCAA Statistics". web1.ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  45. ^ "Basketball Star Marina Mabrey to Male Women's Sports Haters: 'This is my Kitchen'". July 16, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
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