Toronto’s expansion star joins A’ja Wilson and Liz Cambage atop the WNBA record book, capping a historic week with a franchise-defining performance
TORONTO — Marina Mabrey has been must-watch television for the Toronto Tempo all season. On Thursday night, she turned in a performance that belongs in the WNBA history books.
Mabrey poured in 53 points to tie the league’s single-game scoring record, leading the Tempo to a 125-97 demolition of the Los Angeles Sparks at Coca-Cola Coliseum. The outburst pulls Mabrey level with A’ja Wilson, who hung 53 on the Atlanta Dream in 2023, and Liz Cambage, who set the original mark for Dallas against New York back in 2018. Mabrey is now just the third player in WNBA history to reach that number.
She did it in brutally efficient fashion, shooting 17-of-28 from the field, connecting on 9 of 18 attempts from beyond the arc, and going 10-for-12 from the free-throw line — all in just 32 minutes of work. Her nine made 3-pointers tied the WNBA’s single-game record as well, a mark she now shares with Chelsea Gray and Rhyne Howard.
A Night That Built All Game Long
Mabrey wasted no time signaling what kind of evening it would be, scoring 19 points in the opening quarter alone. She had 27 by halftime and 39 through three quarters, and the record chase became impossible to ignore down the stretch as she buried three 3-pointers in a span of about two minutes to push her total to 53.
With Toronto comfortably ahead by more than 30 points, head coach Sandy Brondello pulled Mabrey with just over a minute to play. The decision drew scattered boos from the crowd of more than 8,000 — until the building realized what it had just witnessed and erupted into a standing ovation. Chants of “We Want Mabrey! We Want Mabrey!” rang out as the final seconds ticked away.
There was a personal layer to the milestone, too. Mabrey’s sister, Michaela — her former Notre Dame teammate — was in the building to see it happen in person, a rare occurrence given the families’ travel schedules.
“None of this happens without my teammates,” Mabrey said afterward. “They really found me. For a 3-point shooter, you need your teammates to set screens and deliver the pass, and that’s what they did.”
The game also carried a layer of irony: the Sparks were the team that originally drafted Mabrey 19th overall in 2019, before trading her to Dallas the following year. She’d go on to play for the Wings, Chicago Sky and Connecticut Sun before Toronto selected her sixth overall in this year’s expansion draft.
Capping an Historic Week
Thursday’s eruption wasn’t an isolated explosion — it was the peak of an absurd stretch of basketball. Just days earlier, Mabrey set what was then a career high with 37 points against Connecticut, in the same game tying the WNBA’s single-game 3-point record with nine makes. She broke her own career high again Thursday and, in the process, became the first player in league history to total 113 points across a three-game span.
It’s been a complete vindication of Toronto’s confidence in her. The Tempo made Mabrey the first player off the board in the expansion draft and signed her to a two-year deal worth a reported $2.4 million, making her the highest-paid player in WNBA history. Entering Thursday, she ranked eighth in the league in scoring at 19.8 points per game and second in made 3-pointers per game. She’s since posted a career-high 21.2 points per contest and built a real case for her first All-Star selection at age 29 — a long way from the 4.0 points per game she averaged as a rookie with the Sparks.
Supporting Cast and the Bigger Picture
Point guard Julie Allemand was outstanding in her own right, finishing with 13 points and 14 assists as Toronto set a franchise scoring record in the process. The Tempo’s 125 points marked the highest total by any team in a regulation WNBA game this season and one of the highest in league history — only the Phoenix Mercury’s 127 points in a 2010 double-overtime contest stands above it.
Nneka Ogwumike and Dearica Hamby each scored 21 points to lead a Sparks team that simply had no answer for Mabrey’s barrage. Los Angeles fell to 8-9 with the loss, while Toronto climbed to 9-9 — back to .500 in its inaugural season.
The Tempo are now in the middle of a nine-game homestand, one that notably includes two games at Montreal’s Bell Centre as part of the league’s push into new Canadian markets. Toronto hosts the Phoenix Mercury next, with Mabrey riding a wave of momentum — and a growing case as one of the most dangerous scorers in the league — into the matchup.
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