One name has been making loud noise in the Sky roster. And that is not their popular rookie Angel Reese, but her veteran teammate Marina Mabrey.

Bringing big double-digit scores to the team and leading to a brighter future, the New jersey native has earned her spot back in the W after popping from multiple teams. But how much do we know about this team leader that Teresa Weatherspoon has shown so much faith in?

Born to Patti and Roy Mabrey in Belmar, New Jersey, Marina is the third of five siblings. She is also a part of the hooping trio that consists of her older brother and sister– Roy and Michaela.

Roy has played four years of basketball representing Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, before graduating in 2015. Similarly, Michaela played for Notre Dame until graduating from there in 2016.

In fact, the two sisters have also shared the same court as the two coupled up for the 2015-16 season for the Fighting Irish. The duo was able to lead Muffet McGraw’s squad to the NCAA Finals. However, Geno Auriemma’s UConn took the title in a 53-63 thrilling game. Nevertheless, Mabrey took away the ACC All-Freshman Team.

The following season Marina Mabrey was without her 5-ft-10 sister. However, the team appeared in the March Madness, only to lose to Tara VanDerveer’s Cardinals. The history repeated itself as Notre Dame yet again lost to Stanford.

Nevertheless, in her third NCAA appearance with the Fighting Irish, Marina prepared a team that eventually won over UConn in the Final Four and Mississippi State in the title game to become NCAA champions.

Next year, in what would be her last season with Notre Dame, Mabrey again led the team to the championship game. However, they lost to Kim Mulkey’s Baylor before her WNBA draft.

Marina Mabrey representing the WNBA

The Los Angeles Sparks chose Mabrey as the 19th pick in the second round of the 2019 WNBA draft. While she came from Notre Dame with averages like 14.6 points, 3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.5 steals and was a third leading scorer after Arike Ogunbowale and Brianna Turner, she did not get much floor time in the Sparks. Grabbing merely 4 points and 1 rebound and assist, Mabrey lost her charm.

She was later transferred to Dallas where she improved her numbers back to double digits. In 18 games in 2020, she contributed 10 ppg with 2.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists.

She kept her powerful display and increased her output in the next two years with the Wings before being transferred to the Sky in 2023. Her contract with T-spoon’s team is valued at $620,000 for 3 years.

Marina Mabrey kept improving her stats and bagged 15 points per game for Chicago in the 2023 season. This year, although the Sky has lost all of their team leaders– Kahleah Copper, Courtney Williams, and Alanna Smith, they have found gems in the 2024 WNBA draft.

With a new face and new style of play, the Sky will head into the upcoming 2024 WNBA regular season with college women’s basketball’s versatile stars and National champions– Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso. It will be quite interesting to see how the team will turn out to be with so much young talent in one roster.