Marina Mabrey had just scored 50 points. She’d blown her previous career-high of 37 out of the water. The Toronto Tempo, with a 27-point lead, had comfortably run the Los Angeles Sparks out of the game, and after playing the entire third quarter and most of the fourth, she was ready for a rest.
But as Toronto’s million-dollar free agency acquisition neared the sideline to ask off, her sister, Michaela, broke the news that she was just three points from tying the WNBA single-game scoring record.
Head coach Sandy Brondello was also watching the stat line closely, of course.
“I think she wanted to come out and I was like ‘no, stay in, you’ve got to go for this record,’” Brondello explained after the game.
So Mabrey did. And with a 23-foot three assisted by Julie Allemand, she tied the single-game points record, becoming the third player in WNBA history to drop 53 in a single game, and the first to hit that milestone since A’ja Wilson in 2023.
After celebrating the accomplishment with her teammates in the locker room, Mabrey tried to make sense of it herself.
“It just has honestly so many meanings for me, especially going back to last season. I think I had one of my worst seasons, and I kind of just, I didn't sulk about it. I just went back to the drawing board, went back to working really hard at Unrivaled, being a lot more intentional about what I was doing, and then doing it for an expansion team,” she said.
“Obviously, people don't have super high expectations for us, but we know what we're capable of in that locker room, and I want to be able to instill confidence in my entire team. And when I'm making shots like that, I think it's really inspiring.”
For two-time WNBA champion Brondello, the performance was unlike she’d seen in her 27 years in the league as both a coach and player. Practice on Friday was buzzing with talk of the historic night.
“She’s a winner, it was so great to celebrate her and what she did last night. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” Brondello said after practice.
"She's got this competitive fire, but playing in the right way, because she's got a uniqueness about her, and her play-making, her shot-making, I mean, there's not many people that can do what she does."
Though one of the biggest compliments came when the bench boss compared Mabrey to one of the greatest players of all time after the game.
“What Marina did was something special. I've been doing this for quite some time. I've never, I've never seen that — even Diana Taurasi, and she could shoot it really well.”
Mabrey is the second player in Toronto basketball history to have 53 points or more in a single game. Above her is only Fred VanVleet, who did it with the Raptors, but in the NBA, he had 48 minutes to complete it. Mabrey had just 40.
The Toronto crowd responded to her efforts with MVP chants, something Mabrey said she had never experienced before.
Mabrey was quick to point to her teammates and the hard work that came before this record-breaking night could become reality.
Allemand, with her 14 assists and zero turnovers, was one of the impressive parts of making the puzzle possible. The trust she showed in Mabrey meant the three-point shooting star had the support necessary to go for the record.
“When you have Marina, who's shooting like that, like you just want to pass her the ball, you know?” Allemand said after the game.
Allemand became the first player to record more than 10 points, more than 10 assists, a field goal percentage of 100 per cent and zero turnovers all in a single game. She ended the night with 13 points, six rebounds and 14 assists.
“Like, I think Maria (Conde) got mad at me a few times during the game because she had an open layup, but I was like, ‘No, sorry,’ because Marina was feeling it.”
Rookie Maria Conde tied Allemand for the second-most points on the team with 13. At 29 years old and with over 10 years of experience overseas, Conde has seen a lot of basketball, but nothing has compared to Thursday’s showing.
“I told her I've never seen anything like that in my professional career, so I was just very happy to be a part of it,” Conde said. “I think, I mean, she deserves it. She works really hard every day. She's a great teammate, she's a great person, player. So, I'm just really happy for her, and really happy that I could be there to witness it.”
Tempo assistant general manager Eli Horowitz was part of the very first team that brought Mabrey into the league. In 2019, he was working with the Sparks when they drafted her 19th overall.
“(I’ve) known Marina since her rookie season, and just to see her evolution, I mean, she's been a great player her whole career, but I think this year, the leadership maturity, she's really risen her game to another level on and off the court, which is really cool to see that kind of rewarded with something tangible like a record,” Horowitz told Sportsnet on Friday morning.
But what stood out to Horowitz, on top of the individual record, was how the entire team came together. The team’s efforts also made another record possible, the most points (125) scored by a WNBA team in regulation.
“Everyone took a part in it, not just Marina. So it's definitely, definitely, fun to accomplish that, especially as an expansion team,” he said.
