53 points in June, then nothing since August 18
Marina Mabrey will not play again this season.
Toronto Tempo announced it on Wednesday. A right adductor injury. No surgery is planned, but her year is done.
It is a brutal blow. Mabrey was coming off the best season of her career: 20.8 points, 3.7 assists and 3.3 rebounds a game across 32 outings. On June 25 against the Los Angeles Sparks, she dropped 53 points and tied the WNBA single-game record.
Her last appearance came on August 18. She put up 22 points. Against Indiana, of all teams.
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Toronto eventually ran out of players
The Tempo are in their first season of existence. Eleven wins, 29 losses, 13th in the standings, out of contention long ago. Four straight defeats before the break.
The injury list explains plenty. Brittney Sykes (foot) and Aneesah Morrow (knee) are also out for the rest of the year. That leaves rookie Kiki Rice, averaging 12.5 points, as the top available scorer.
“We learned a lot about ourselves, right?” said head coach Sandy Brondello. “A lot of players got a chance to step up, but you still want to go out there and compete. We did that most of the time. We have been very short-handed all season, but we can still fight with the players we have left.”
Indiana has plenty to play for on Friday
Across the court, the mood is very different. Indiana Fever (26-14) begin their final four games with home-court advantage firmly in sight. The top four seeds host in the first round. At the time of the FIBA World Cup break on August 31, Indiana was tied for fourth with the Atlanta Dream.
They are riding two straight wins. And they have beaten Toronto twice this season, scoring more than 100 points on both occasions.
“We need to finish strong,” said Myisha Hines-Allen. “Coming out of the break, I think we’re really playing well. With these four games, and knowing the playoffs start a few days later, we have the mindset that we’re trying to win a title. Everybody has that mentality, everybody is locked in on that.”
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