THE Perth Lynx finally got their Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) season underway last weekend, and although they narrowly did not get over the line against Adelaide, one of the stars was guard Marina Mabrey.
She came in and shot 30 points, and topped all others on the court that day. Mabrey shot two thirds of her points in the opening half, and also registered five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Not only was it her first game of the season, it was her first game in the WNBL after being recruited from the WNBA.
As a player, she described herself as an “active combo guard who can definitely shoot threes and score in general”. As a teammate, she said she is a “leader who provides lots of energy”.
Originally from New Jersey, the 25-year-old played her college basketball at Notre Dame. Mabrey helped Notre Dame to back to back NCAA championships during her junior and senior years. In her senior year she averaged 12.8 points and 4.4 assists per game while shooting 41 percent from beyond the arc. She was then taken with pick 19 in the 2019 WNBA Draft by the LA Sparks.
Even though she never started a single game in her rookie season, she proved a valuable asset from the free throw line as she helped the Sparks make the playoffs that season. Although only averaging four points per game that season, her free throw percentage was a nice and healthy 87.5 per cent.
After one season with the Sparks, she moved across to the Dallas Wings, where she still plays her WNBA basketball to this day. She began to actually start the game on court with the Wings, and her stats percentages began to see a rise too.
In the 2021 season alone, she shot 424 points at an average of 13.3 a game. She also averaged 3.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and a steal per game for the season. After that stellar season in the WNBA, she comes to Perth as one of two imports, alongside fellow Notre Dame graduate Jackie Young. Mabrey was a sophomore at Notre Dame when Young was a freshman.
After breaking her career best points tally in only one game at the Lynx (her previous best was 24 points), Mabrey has already proven how much of a valuable scoring asset she will be for Perth. After not a very high scoring campaign in the 2020 WNBL season, Perth need someone who can score a high number of points to help them climb back up the ladder. Mabrey just may be the person they have been looking for.
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