Belmar, New Jersey, a coastal town on the Jersey Shore, is a summertime destination for vacationers looking to escape the heat. It’s also the hometown of Marina Mabrey, the Connecticut Sun’s newest guard — traded from Chicago just before the WNBA’s Olympic break.
Growing up in Belmar, which is roughly two hours from the Connecticut border, Mabrey is quite familiar with her new team’s home state. She remembers her dad taking her to UConn games growing up and later competing against UConn during her time as a student-athlete at Notre Dame.
She has spent a lot of time in Connecticut, and her younger brother, Ryan, recently transferred from Miami (Ohio) to Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. Mabrey is excited to spend more time with him and other family members but will miss being near her sisters.
“My sisters are coaching at Notre Dame, so they came to my games in Chicago. So I’m just trading. My parents and my brothers will be there. I will have more people in Connecticut because my aunts and uncles all live on the East Coast. My uncle lives in New York,” Mabrey told The Next. “I’ll have a lot more people there, but I’ll miss my sisters.”
There are also some familiar faces on the Sun.
“I’ve played with Astou [Ndour-Fall] in Schio. I played with Ty [Tyasha Harris] in Dallas. I played with Veronica [Burton] in Dallas. I played against Breezy [Brionna Jones] and AT [Alyssa Thomas] in EuroLeague, but we got to spend some time together,” Mabrey said. “Me and AT got along really well. So, I expect that we’ll all get along.”
Thomas and DeWanna Bonner have been super vocal and welcoming toward Mabrey, but she is letting bonds form naturally since she knows how difficult trades can be sometimes.
“Obviously I know the other players will welcome me in as well, but they didn’t get to really see me or talk to me that much, and I kind of wanted to give everybody a chance to adjust,” Mabrey said. “I know trades can be hard and you lose friends, or it’s a little different or maybe you haven’t played with somebody, you don’t know them. So just kind of giving them a chance to accept me and let that organically develop.”
Mabrey has had a desire to play for the Sun for awhile and really admires their style of play. She isn’t used to beating them, though.
She’s admires “the discipline that they play with defensively and offensively,” Mabrey said. “They’re really, really good, and I really like their style of play and what they put on the court.”
She thinks that her game can really elevate the team to be able to win a championship.
“[My game’s] a little bit less disciplined, but I think [my skills] can propel a little bit faster offense and a little bit more in the paint creation one-on-one. So I fill a void that I know I can do, and it’s like the perfect fit I feel like, so I got to step my defensive game up,” Mabrey said.
Sun head coach Stephanie White said that adding Mabrey to the team has been smooth so far and that the team is going to benefit in the second half of the season.
“I think Marina’s come along really well,” White said. “I think the biggest thing is getting her familiar with our terminology, with our actions, things that we want to do offensively, defensively and just some different expectations from our system verses other systems that she’s been in. I think that she’s a really high-IQ player. She understands the game. It’s been a good transition.”
Mabrey loves the culture that Connecticut fans create when it comes to women’s basketball, despite her playing in college for Notre Dame, one of UConn’s oldest and biggest rivals.
“The fans are super loyal. Like, they’re always there. They’re like die-hard ‘bleed blue,’” Mabrey said. “It’s great for the sport, and I think that rivalry and that kind of competitiveness propel the sport. It makes people show up. So if they want to make a rival out of Notre Dame or whatever, that’s great. Let’s do it.”
Mabrey played for the Fighting Irish when they defeated the Huskies in the 2018 and 2019 Final Fours.
“I’m really excited to be here,” she said. “I’m here to win a championship and help this team get exactly where they’ve been working towards getting to these past couple years,” Mabrey said. “I know I’m a little bit late to the party, but better late than never. I’m just gonna bring my fire and my flair.”
The Sun will face the Dallas Wings, Mabrey’s team from 2020-22, on Friday at 9:30 p.m. ET.