Guru’s WNBA Report: It’s a Double WNBA Record Night for Marina Marbrey in Toronto Win Over L.A.; Seattle Ends 11-Game Skid Upsetting New York; ‘Vegas Stops Dallas Sweep

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux

Another record, a continuing roller coaster, and the champs get some revenge were the three themes of Thursday night in WNBA games.

Toronto’s Marina Marbrey tied an individual league scoring record, but became the first guard to do so, for expansion Toronto (9-9) collecting 53 points in a high-scoring 125-97 blowout win over Los Angeles (8-9) before a home crowd of 8,210 at Coca-Cola Coliseum.

She also tied another mark reached several times already in the WNBA’s 30th anniversary season, connecting long-range with nine 3-pointers in 18 attempts as the Tempo got back to .500.

It’s been a wild nearly two weeks for the New York Liberty (12-7), who on June 14 seemed all was right in their world with the return of Sabrina Ionescu in an 86-64 victory over Washington (8-8) before a sellout home crowd of 17,587 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn that clinched the Eastern side and hosting slot next Tuesday (7 p.m., Amazon Prime Video) in the Commissioner’s Cup against rival Las Vegas (13-5).

The triumph came against the backdrop city giddiness over the first NBA Knicks finishing a 4-1 league finals domination in San Antonio the previous night for the former Liberty owners’ first title since 1973.

Since then, New York has gone 1-3, all but one game on a Western road swing, that on Thursday after winning 87-76 in a regular-schedule game in what became a Cup preview at Las Vegas, fell 99-88 at Seattle (4-15) before a crowd of 11,968 at Climate Pledge thrilled as the Storm snapped an 11-game losing streak.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas, which had been bedeviled at 0-2 on the season in two previous visits to Dallas, the latter which nearly cost the Aces’ appearing in the Cup game in New York, avoided a season sweep, winning 99-84 over the Wings (11-7) before 10,295 at Michelob ULTRA Arena as reigning and four-time league MVP A’ja Wilson scored 32 points.

Marbrey Mops Up for Tempo over Sparks

The 53-point record tied by the former Notre Dame star was previously reached by Australian Liz Cambage, playing for Dallas against New York on July 17, 2018, and A’ja Wilson with Las Vegas against the Atlanta Dream, on Aug. 22, 2023.

Interviewed on TV afterwards, Marbrey said, “None of this happens without my teammates. They really found me. For a 3-point shooter, you need your teammates to set screens and deliver the pass. That’s what they did.”

For the game, she was 17-of-28 from the field and 10-for-12 from the line.

Marbrey had 19 points after one quarter and 27 at the half.

She previous had nine threes earlier this season in a win over the Connecticut Sun in which she reached her previous overall game best of 37 last Friday.

“There’s no stat board in our gym,” Marbrey said. "After you get into a state like that, it’s kind of hard to know what you’re really doing, but my teammates made it known, so I knew I was doing something good.”

She left the game with a minute left in the game, and the record tied causing fans to at first to boo the move before applauding the performance, though coach Sandy Brondello said it was her star’s choice.

“She wanted to come out,” Brondello said. “I said, ‘No, no you’ve got to stay for this record.”

Instructed to shoot more threes to break that mark, Marbrey missed both, then Brondello said, “She goes, ‘I’m out.’”

Marbrey laughed, saying, “I think tonight was just my night from the 3-point line — and from honestly, anywhere. And then the fans, to end up chant ing MVP, I don’t know I ever imagined that. But it was really a good feeling.”

Added Brondello, who previously coached New York until last season leading t he Liberty, a charter WNBA team, to their first title in 2025, and also won with Phoenix, “I’ve been doing this for quite some time. I’ve never seen that,” noting the retired great Diana Taurasi she coached with the Mercury. She could shoot it really well. I mean, to witness that was amazing.”

It was Toronto’s highest scoring game in the Tempo’s inaugural season, helped by Julie Allemand with 13 points and 14 assists.

“Julie literally throws the ball right to my pocket,” Marbrey said. “It’s actually wild.”

The Sparks’ Nneka Ogwumike and Dearica Hamby each scored 21 points, as the Tempo, which promised to play some home games elsewhere as Canada’s team, will make two stops on the newly started nine-game stand with visits to Montreal’s Bell Centre.

Los Angeles is without league-leading scorer Kelsey Plum for the next month with an injury as well as Cameron Brink.

“It’s next man up. You have to be ready. That’s why you do all the work, so that when you’re number is called, you’re ready,” said second-year coach Lynne Roberts.

Liberty Let’s Another Slip Away

After New York handled Washington almost two weeks ago, clinching the Cup title game at 5-0 in the Eastern series in which Breanna Stewart had 14 points, 12 boards, and a personal best seven blocks, the Liberty went on the road and needed an Ionescu layup with 10 seconds left to win 96-95 at Chicago, a game before 7,225 at Wintrust Arena, and extend the win streak to eight straight.

Jonquel Jones had 19 points for the winners.

But it all came crashing down two nights later at home as Washington returned, having been at 0-10 on a current losing series streak, and rallied to beat the Liberty 86-83 as second-year pro Kiki Iriafen, back from a three-game absence with an ankle injury, scored 20 and the go-ahead basket with 27 seconds left.

Two nights later, Washington got even happier rallying with a 12-0 surge to win 84-79 at Minnesota, Sunday, 84-79 as second-year pro Sonia Citron had 21 points and Iriafen scored 17 and a late basket for her second-straight game-winner before a Lynx crowd of 11,610 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

But on Wednesday, with a crowd of 4,200 at the Mystics’ CareFirst small-venue Arena, the Lynx (14-4), leading the overall standings, rallied from 12 points down to win 78-76 as Natasha Howard scored 21 points and rookie sensation Olivia Miles had 21 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter.

That gave long-time coach of 17 seasons Cheryl Reeve, the former La Salle star out of South Jersey, her 378th victory, one less then the career record of former Mystics coach Mike Thibault.

Reeve then hopped a flight late Thursday down here in Knoxville where this is being written to be part of this weekend’s Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductions that include two former WNBA greats in Tennessee grad Candace Parker, and Delaware grad Elena Delle Donne out of Wilmington.

Also in the class is broadcaster Doris Burke, a former Providence star who has been a longtime NBA broadcaster but got her start doing early games in the WNBA and on the college circuit national women’s beat for ESPN. She currently lives in Ardmore.

Since this is also serving as a two-week catchup, back to New York that after the Washington loss left on the West trip, beginning last Sunday in Los Angeles, where the Liberty and Sparks played in the inaugural WNBA game 30 years ago.

New York won that milestone event but on Sunday the Sparks got their revenge, rallying from a 17-point deficit in the third period and winning 98-97 on Nneka Ogwumike’s buzzer-beating three-pointer to win as she finished with 24 points.

Ogwumike is also the longtime president of the player’s union that negotiated the new landmark multi-million-dollar CBA deal in later March.

The Liberty had gone up two when Stewart went 1-2 on the line ahead of Ogwumike’s heroics in which she had 12 of her points in the final 3:50 including a game-tying shot to make it 93 all with 1:27 lefrt.

Former Rutgers star Erica Wheeler dashed up the floor on the Sparks’ final possession to feed the decisive shot to the former Stanford great.

Former Tennessee star Rae Burrell had 19 points also off the bench for Los Angeles, while Wheeler had 15, Dearica Hamby had 12, as did Plum, before her current injury, while Ariel Atkins scored 10.

In the game watched by 18,043 at Crypto.com Arena, Stewart had 18 points and 10 boards for New York, while Jones scored 18 with eight boards, Satou Sabally scored 14, Leonie Fiebich had 13 and off the bench, Marine Johannes scored 10 points and rookie standout Pauline Astier, who had filled in as a starter during Ionescu’s absence, scored 17.

In certainly was a befitting thriller for both team fans and neutral bodies as well.

“It was a great win in a lot of ways,” said Roberts before Thursday’s loss in Toronto.

Just a poetic night for that 30th game. Nneka hitting the shot. That was a good win for us in the scope of things, and that’s who Nneka is.”

But back on the upside of the roller coaster, it so worked out that the Commissioner’s Cup teams had been set as New York headed to Las Vegas and won Tuesday 87-76 before an Aces crowd of 10,274 as Stewart scored 15 of her 20 points in the second half, while Ionescu had 16 points and 10 boards, and Jones had 14 points, and the hot-shooting Fiebich got all 12 of her points on 4-of-5 makes from deep.

Jackie Young scored 19 points with seven assists and Wilson had 16 points, nine boards, five assists and four steals.

Reserves Cheyenne Parker-Tyus had 15 and Chelsea Gray scored 11 for the Aces, who in the last four years won three WNBA crowns around the one claimed by New York.

But then came Thursday in Seattle as New York got blind-sided, giving up 99 points in the loss.

Rookie Flau’jae Johnson out of LSU as a first-round pick got 28 for the Storm, while Dominque Malonga, a second-year pro, became the youngest WNBA player to reach 500 career points.

Johnson was 11-for-23 from the field, while Malonga, also becoming the youngest with 200 defensive rebounds, had 20 points and 10 boards.

Jade Melborne added 18 points, rookie Awa Fam scored 15, and Natisha Hiedman, a free agent who had played in Minnesota, scored 11, including her 2,000th career point.

The Liberty’s Jones, the adopted daughter of Temple coach Diane Richardson and former George Washington star, had 26 points, with Fiebich scoring 19, while Ionescu scored 14 with five assists.

Seattle hadn’t won since May 14.

“Feels great, so proud of my girrrls,” Johnson reacted on the postgame TV interview on breaking the slide. “We made winning plays and did what winners do.”

As for the Liberty side, “We had open looks, but, yeah, 16 turnovers,” said first-year coach Chris DeMarco on the cause of the latest New York demise.”

Said Jones, when suggested the Liberty had played down to opponents in the losses, said, “When you put it that way, I guess we do. We have to come out with a certain level of intensity, no matter, who we’re playing.”

Aces Deck Wings

For the third game Thursday, Las Vegas had been on a mini roller coaster beginning two weeks ago.

The Saturday before New York’s clinching win the next day to make the Cup championship, the Aces climbed into the driver’s seat edgining visiting Minnesota 100-97 as Wilson had 24 points and 10 boards before a crowd of 10,330 in Sin City.

That gave the winners a one-game lead over Minnesota, but then two days later Dallas struck with a 96-66 blowout in Texas that put the Lynx back in play.

Minnesota has been a miracle team to date, nearly replicating the dominate start of last season, despite still awaiting the return of perennial MVP candidate Napheesa Collier, who had offseason surgery on both ankles.

In the Texas win, Arike Ogunbowale scored 22 with five makes from distance for the Wings, who themselves got themselves back in play if a few combination of helpful things happened.

Dallas had won five straight at home with that triumph and has since matched their overall total of last summer, which they managed with a low enough finish to secure the No. 1 pick for the second straight season, following the selection of reigning rookie of the year Paige Bueckers out of UConn, taking her Huskies teammate Azzi Fudd last April.

Two nights later, however, Las Vegas in the final day of Cup qualifying games won a close battle to negate the Minnesota 99-83 win in Los Angeles doing their own part of the equation, by racing to a strong finish beating Phoenix  86-76 as Wilson scored 33 and ‘Vegas grabbed 18 steals.

But in the overall scheme of things beyond the Cup looking to the playoff race, Minnesota went 2-1 beating the second year wonders Golden State Valkyries 81-75 on the road as Nia Coffey scored 22 points.

In that game the sellout-every-home affair continued for the hosts at 18,064 in the Chase Center in San Francisco, that is also the home of the NBA Golden State Warriors.

And then came the split with Washington.

Las Vegas, meanwhile, after becoming the West participant for the Cup, went 2-1 also beating the Valkyries 92-73 on at home Sunday, using a 21-2 run, as Jackie Young scored 21 points and Wilson had 19 with nine boards.

Then came the loss to New York but the Aces finally solved the nu-look Wings Thursday as Wilson scored her 32 and Chelsea Gray had 12 points and nine assists, become the fourth WNBA star to reach 4,500 points with 2,000 assists, the latter now at 2,003.

Young had 20 points and Parker-Tyus had 13 points.

Bueckers, who recently became the youngest to reach 1,000 career points with the total early in her second season, had 25 points and Jessica Sheppard scored 22 with 14 boards.

“We came in with the focus to kick their butts,” Parker-Tyus said on a TV media interview after a 28-17 first quarter.

T he Wings, though, couldn’t get it done shooting 2-of-21 beyond the arc and outrebounded 35-24.

Overall in recent action, Las Vegas is 9-2, one of the losses to New York.

Recent Notables Elsewhere

Of teams inside the eight-team playoff with a long way to go, Atlanta (12-5), in third-place, went 3-2, the wins coming 102-77 in Toronto, as Angel Reese had 15 points and 17 boards including a one-short WNBA single-game record 11 on the offense glass.

There was a temptuous 1-1 in the ongoing Angel Reese/Catlin Clark rivalry in the Indiana series, the Dream winning 108-101 in Indianapolis as Reese had 21 points and 11 boards and Jordin Canada added 18 points with all Atlanta starters scored 16 plus on June 18 before a Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd of 17,274 in Indianapolis.

Naz Hillmon and Allisha Gray each scored 17 and Rhyne Howard added 16.

Clark had 26 points for the Fever as did Kelsey Mitchell, while Aliyah Boston had 23 points and eight boards.

Mitchell became the eighth player in the league to make 700 3-pointers.

Clark had just announced being the latest with a signature shoe, “Caitlin 1,” which Nike will release this fall.

The teams then went to Atlanta several days later last Saturday and the Dream made it a sweep, winning 113-96 before 17,044, the site moved to the NBA Hawks’ State Farm Arena.

The points for the winners were a franchise record, Howard scoring 24 and Gray 22.

Reese became the fastest to grab 1,000 rebounds in what is her third season in the league since drafted in the first round by Chicago, who satisfied her trade request in the offseason and dealt to Atlanta.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley was at the game and got a standing ovation.

Clark had 26 for the Fever, while Mitchell had 16 and Boston and Sophie Cunningham each scored 13.

The Dream trailed 59-56 at the half and then blitzed the visitors 28-15 in the next period.

On Monday, Atlanta won its fourth straight, 94-87 over visiting Toronto, still at State Farm before a crowd of 9,685 as Howard scored 20, while Gray and rookie Madina Okot each scored 18.

Toronto’s Marbrey had 23 points and after Thursday’s big game she has the most points in a three-game stretch. Isabelle Harrison scored 21, while former Harvard and Southern Cal star Temi Fagbenle, a native of England, scored 10 off the bench.

On Wednesday, the Dream streak ended as Golden State (11-7) before its usual sellout crowd at the Chase Center in San Francisco, saw former UConn star Gabby Williams, who also has played for the Silver Medal French national team, scored 23 points while Kayla Thornton had five threes on the way to 17 points in s 77-66 victory holding the visitors to their lowest total of three season.

Cecilia Zandalasini added 14 points while Atlanta’s Okot at 7-of-9 from the field scored 16 and Howard had 12. Reese double doubled again with 10 points and 12 boards.

The teams, meanwhile, play again out West Friday.

Indiana, after the Atlanta series, then had a back-to-back series Monday and Wednesday with Phoenix, winning the first game 86-77 before a home crowd of 15,198 in Indy as Clark scored 24 with nine assists, and Mitchell scored 22, rallying from a 13-point deficit in the first quarter.

The home team scored just six in the first quarter and then exploded with 35 in the next period.

Six technical fouls were assessed overall to both teams.

Monique Billings had 14 points and 10 boards for the Fever, who temporarily snapped a two-game losing streak.

 

Clark set a record for most 20-point games consecutively at six with five assists in each.

Philly native and Rutgers grad Kahleah Copper scored 20 while Maryland grad and Harrisburg native Alyssa Thomas had 19 points, five boards and nine assists, and beat Clark by four fewer games to become the fastest to reach 500 assists.

Two nights later, however, the Mercury (6-13) won 111-109 before a Gainbridge crowd of 16,128 as Copper was 15-of-16 from the line on the way gto 28 points and Thomas had 24 points with eight assists and Valeriane Ayayi had a career-high 19 points.

Clark had 19 points and eight assists but had to leave the game with back issues with 5:15 left in the third period.

Afterwards Indy coach Stephanie White was livid over lack of protection for her “generational” player, arguing against missed fouls.

On Thursday, on the Thomas play White cited, the WNBA ruled Thomas with a flagrant foul 2 penalty and issued a one-game suspension for “recklessly making contact with her fist to the throat area.”

“We have a generational talent and WNBA superstar who had two cheap shots right there that weren’t called,” White said after the game. “Absolutely unacceptable.”

Indiana, meanwhile, is suffering from defensive woes, giving up 100 plus points in six of the Fever’s eight losses.

Besides the woes of Seattle, Phoenix, and Connecticut (3-15), Chicago (5-12) has had a slew of heartbreakers, losing 114-106 to the Fever on June 11, yet another 100-point yield by the winning Fever, the one-point loss to New York, followed by a 93-92 loss to Dallas last Saturday, the Wings scoring 36 in the final period overcoming a 14-point deficit, as Li Yueru, hit two foul shots with 12.5 left.

On Monday the Sky got trounced 92-63 at Connecticut before beating expansion Portland 101-78 at home Wednesday as Skylar Diggins scored 15 and the Fire fell to 8-10.

Meanwhile, while the lame duck Connecticut Sun, heading under new NBA ownership in Houston next season, struggles in the basement district of the standings for the second straight summer, Britney Griner, who signed with an eye to her native Texas, this week passed the late Margo Dydek, to become the new all-time WNBA blcks leader at 878 eclipsing a previous standard that stood since 2008.

Looking Ahead

On Friday, the three-game Ion package has Connecticut hosting Washington at 7:30 p.m. in Uncasville, Chicago again hosting Portland the same time and as mentioned earlier, Golden State hosting Atlanta at 10 p.m.

League Pass is also streaming all three games.

On Saturday, Indiana hosts Los Angeles at 8 p.m. on CBS and Paramount+, Phoenix is at Toronto at 2 p.m. on the same network, while at 9 p.m., Atlanta is at Seattle, on League Pass.

On Sunday, CBS and Paramount+ has Minnesota visiting Dallas at 2 p.m., League Pass airing Portland at Washington at 3 p.m., Las Vegas at Chicago on CBS and Paramount+ at 4 p.m., and New York at Golden State at 7 p.m. on Disney+ and ESPN.

The month wraps with no games Monday and New York hosting Las Vegas Tuesday, the game not including in the regular season standings.