Sun Guard Marina Mabrey Makes Unfortunate WNBA History vs. Liberty originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

On Sunday, the Connecticut Sun suffered one of the biggest blowout losses in the WNBA. The Sun had a 100-52 defeat as they faced the defending champions, the New York Liberty. It was a dominant game for the Liberty as they improved to a 7-0 record in the 2025 season.

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For the Sun, there were only two players who scored in double digits. Tina Charles and Jacy Sheldon each had 10 points in the game. The rest of the team struggled to make shots against the Liberty.

Sun guard Marina Mabrey had the most obvious struggle offensively. Mabrey had eight points on 2-for-11 shooting from the field.

Connecticut Sun guard Marina Mabrey brings the ball upcourt.John Jones-Imagn Images

After the game, Mabrey made WNBA history with her performance. However, it isn’t an impressive or positive stat line.

The veteran guard registered the lowest plus/minus in a single WNBA game. The former Chicago Sky player had a -55 for Connecticut. She was the only player who logged at least a -50.

The Sun has struggled to collect wins this season as they logged a 1-6 record. Their only win was on Friday, against the Indiana Fever. Mabrey had 26 points to lead Connecticut to their first win of the new year. The Fever didn’t have their best player, Caitlin Clark, who was ruled out because of a quad injury.

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Before facing the 2024 champions, Mabrey entered the game averaging 16.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists. She’s the second-leading scorer for the Sun behind Charles. The veteran star is averaging 17.2 points and 5.8 rebounds.

Their next game is on Friday against the Atlanta Dream.

Related: Sabrina Ionescu Comments on Energized Reaction After a Successful Challenge vs. Sun

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 1, 2025, where it first appeared.

Barely 24 hours after an emotional win over the Chicago Sky on Friday, the Connecticut Sun earned their first regular-season victory since 2022 over the New York Liberty 72-64 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Guard Marina Mabrey led the Sun in scoring for the second time in five games with the team, logging 15 points shooting 6-for-14 from the field and 2-for-5 from 3-point range. Connecticut lost its previous three games against the Liberty in 2024, but Saturday’s victory was the first meeting since the Sun traded for Mabrey with the Chicago Sky during the Olympic break. The Sun’s last game before the break was an 82-74 loss in Brooklyn.

“The spacing on the floor is totally different with her on the floor having another scorer, having someone else that we can run in actions,” Sun coach Stephanie White said, “Now we have have two people that they have to guard in those off-ball actions with (DeWanna Bonner) and Marina, so it allows us to do so much more offensively. And she’s a big shot-maker. She’s somebody that can move the clock to get a shot up. She embraces the moment.”

As usual, it took the Sun’s offense some time to get going with just two made field goals in the first five minutes of the game, but the team got a boost off the bench from both Mabrey and former UConn standout Olivia Nelson-Ododa. The pair combined for 10 of Connecticut’s 20 first-quarter points, and Mabrey hit the team’s only 3-pointer after it started 0-4 from beyond the arc.

The Sun trailed 25-20 entering the second quarter, though they were helped by New York’s own offensive struggles. The Liberty went 1-for-7 on 3-pointers in the opening quarter, and sharpshooter Sabrina Ionescu missed her first six attempts in the half.

“We are not a first quarter team, every single time,” Sun forward DeWanna Bonner said. “I don’t know if we trained ourselves not to panic, because there’s a lot of ballgame left and we just kind of figure it out on the fly. But Liv and Marina came in and gave us a gave us a little spark, and I think that kind of got us going off the bench, so it’s a credit to them.”

Connecticut dominated the second quarter, outscoring the Liberty 20-13 behind 11 first-half points from Mabrey, but it was the defense that powered the Sun to their 40-38 lead at halftime. They forced nine turnovers against New York and scored 11 points off of them, while the Liberty created just four against the Sun in the first half. Connecticut never gave up the lead in the second quarter after taking it for the first time, but Ionescu shifted some momentum towards New York at the halftime buzzer with a 3-pointer from the logo that made it a one-score game.

Forward Leonie Fiebich almost single-handedly pushed the Liberty back into the game after Connecticut took its largest lead midway through the third quarter. The rookie ended a nearly three-minute scoring drought for New York with four consecutive made field goals for 10 points in less than four and a half minutes. But after Fiebich nailed a deep 3-pointer with under a minute left in the third, Mabrey found an answer again for Connecticut with a tough baseline jump shot that kept the team ahead by seven points.

The Sun also led the Liberty heading into the fourth quarter in their July 16 loss at Barclays Center, but Connecticut seemed determined that history not repeat itself. The team went on a 7-0 early in the quarter to cushion their lead, and New York never got closer than eight points in the final minutes. Five different Sun players finished with double-digit points, including a season-high 12 from Nelson-Ododa in just 15 minutes off the bench. Bonner led the Sun on the boards with 12 and added 10 points for her third double-double of the season.

“This is our fourth game this week, and DB played 35 minutes in this game and played 36 yesterday at 37 years old. I mean, it’s incredible what she’s prepared herself to be able to do,” White said. “Her ability to get defensive boards for us was huge, won the game for us, and so it’s a mindset.”

New York contained Sun star Alyssa Thomas as completely as any team this season, holding the triple-double machine to just four points and three rebounds, though she still logged eight assists. She was also impactful defensively in a matchup with former UConn superstar Breanna Stewart, who was held below her season average to 15 points and shot 1-for-4 from 3-point range. The Sun defense as a unit was effective in limiting New York’s transition offense, which leads the WNBA averaging 12.7 fast-break points per game. Connecticut outscored the Liberty 13-7 on the fast break, also finishing with 21 points on 19 New York turnovers.

With the win and the Indiana Fever’s loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday night, the Sun have now clinched a spot in the 2024 WNBA Playoffs. They are the third team secure a postseason berth, joining the Liberty and the Lynx.

“While it hasn’t been pretty (as) we’re continuing to find our way, the thing I love about our team is we have a toughness about us that allows us to win tight games,” White said. “We haven’t had very many that we pulled away and we put away double digits. They’ve all kind of come down to the wire, and we found ways to win … I think we’re defensively (playoff) ready. I’d like to throw a few more wrinkles in there, but I think offensively, we’ve got to continue to build that chemistry.”