WASHINGTON — As she walked off the court Friday night at CareFirst Arena, Marina Mabrey gave Sonia Citron a little side tap.
Citron was headed in the opposite direction to celebrate with her teammates just moments after her contested buzzer-beater from mid-range off a jump ball had secured her Washington Mystics an 86-85 win that they needed a lot more than Mabrey’s Toronto Tempo.
There’s been 37 points in one 12-minute NBA quarter (the Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson). There’s been 13 points in 33
seconds (the Houston Rockets’ Tracy McGrady). There’s been eight points in nine seconds (the Indiana Pacers’ Reggie Miller). And there’s been 27 points in one seven-minute Unrivaled quarter, accomplished by Mabrey in Philadelphia this January.
Mabrey neared these previous mind-boggling events with 18 points over 3:14 of the fourth quarter Friday, as Toronto desperately tried to crawl back into the contest. But the Tempo fell short of victory, hence the tip of the hat by Mabrey (game-high 27 points on the night) to the second-year Citron (17 points).
Citron was an All-Star rookie last year who messed around and led the WNBA in 3-point percentage (44.5), so she’s been a sniper in her own right and added to her clutch bona fides with this game-winner. But amid Mabrey’s grace in defeat, let’s not forget that very few, if any, other players in the sport could have done what she just did.
Marina Mabrey went crazy in the capital!
Toronto trailed by as many as 18 points on Friday, including by 16 points with 5:04 remaining. A jump ball that actually went right for them led to an Isabelle Harrison layup that cut it to 77-63 at 4:41. That was the beginning of a 24-7 run that would give them an 85-84 lead with 11.1 left.
A Mabrey layup off her own defensive rebound cut it to 77-65 at 3:46. Those were Marina’s first points of the fourth. After Washington pushed the lead back to 14 points, she was fouled on a 3 and made all three freebies, cutting it to 79-68 at 3:06. She followed that up by pressuring Michaela Onyenwere into a turnover near midcourt six seconds later and then dished the ball to Maria Conde for a layup that cut it to 79-70.
Then came the 3s. Four of them, including a 4-point play, over 1:44 of playing time.
She hit a step-back at 2:16 that cut it to eight, then, on the ensuing Tempo possession, pulled up for a heat check early in the shot clock, even though it was contested, and cut it to five.
Now the Mystics were starting to sweat with 1:51 left—plenty of time to come back from down five.
Mabrey cut it to three with her 4-point play at 1:16. Then, her team showed full faith in her, handing the ball off to her for a left corner trey that fell and narrowed the margin to one with 31.6 ticks to go.
She had a 3 that would have tied the game roll around and almost fall at 55.1 as well. She was 4-for-5 from 3 over this incredible stretch. It was a quiet night for her otherwise, as she had just five points at halftime and was 5-for-10 from 3 overall.
But she proved that the Tempo are never out of a game, while tying her second-highest scoring output of the season, which also marked her highest since dropping her season high of 30 on May 19.
After the conclusion of Friday night’s other game, she sat in the league lead with 39 made 3s on the season. That’s a career-best three per game, and she’s doing it at a 35.8 percent clip, which is a huge improvement over last year’s career-low 27 percent that drew much concern about whether she could really be a franchise player. The 35.8 is solidly good, and she has room to soar much higher, having shot 41.8 percent with 38 makes in 2020 and 45.3 percent with 34 makes as a Notre Dame freshman. For her career she shot 40 percent in college and is shooting 34.7 percent in the W.
Cat mentioned Friday morning that an “outburst in the US capital could be the start of some Mabrey All-Star momentum.” Well Marina fans, that’s what you got.
A thrilling finish ended in heartbreak for the Tempo
After Mabrey’s final 3 cut it to one, Citron missed a floater that nearly rolled in at 18.9 seconds. Harrison grabbed the rebound and the Tempo took a timeout.
Trying to not be too predictable with another play for Mabrey, Toronto put the ball in the hands of her million-dollar backcourt partner, Brittney Sykes, as they had at 46.1 when Sykes missed a layup and tried to do what she does best, draw contact, but failed. This time, Sykes made a heroic layup under the outstretched arm of Shakira Austin.
Funny that it was this basket, and not one from Mabrey, that officially gave Toronto the lead. It also marked Sykes’ lone bucket of the second half after 18 points in the first.
There were 11.1 ticks remaining. The Mystics called a timeout and subbed in No. 4 draft pick Lauren Betts for No. 9 pick Angela Dugalić. On the ensuing possession, Betts ended up fighting with Sykes for a loose ball and a jump ball was called.
After a review for a hostile act on Betts came back clean, the Mystics could breathe a sigh of relief. However, it was still going to be difficult to score the needed field goal after securing the tip, seeing as there were only 2.1 seconds remaining.
Betts tipped it over to Citron, and Citron had to quickly turn to face the basket and fade away. Julie Allemand got up a good contest, but Citron was able to put enough oomph on the ball for a nothing-but-net swish, leaving no time on the clock.
As mentioned, Washington needed this win more than Toronto.
They were 1-3 at home with three close losses to good teams, including Monday’s heartbreaker to Caitlin Clark and the Fever. They were in danger of losing three in a row overall and falling to 4-7, which would have pushed them too far out of the playoff picture for comfort. Instead, they improve to 5-6 and just one game behind the 7-6 Tempo for the final playoff spot.
Toronto was in a better position to stomach this loss, though they don’t want these to add up. Also, their near-defeat at the hands of the 2-12 Sun on Wednesday was concerning.
As far as the Commissioner’s Cup, this one really hurt, as it all but eliminated Toronto (now 2-2). The Liberty have to lose to both the Mystics and Sky (teams with losing records) in their remaining two Cup games, the Tempo have to defeat both the Dream and Fever (teams with winning records), and more things need to go right in order for the Tempo to make it to the Cup championship game.
Julie Allemand kickstarted the Tempo comeback
At the point when the Mystics had their biggest lead (61-43 at 3:32 in the third), Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello subbed out Mabrey and Sykes. The Mystics were on a 9-0 run and the Tempo desperately needed to stop the bleeding. Brondello chose to try stopping it without her two best players, and it worked.
Allemand came into the game and set the tone for a third-quarter (partial) comeback. She nailed a 3 from the left wing 18 seconds after entering and then grabbed a steal at 2:26 that led to two Tima Pouye free throws that cut it to 13. At one point over the remainder of the third, Toronto cut it to 11, and they cut it to 11 again 29 seconds into the fourth on an Allemand spin move-turned-layup and at 7:34 in the fourth on a Pouye lay-in.
All that before Sykes finally checked back in at 6:30 and Mabrey checked in at 6:14.
Allemand was flying all over the court, going full speed and bringing intensity to the defensive end.
Here’s what she said about the stretch:
I think we had a group with a lot of energy at that moment, and I think it helped me. I needed energy, and that’s what that group brought to the team. … We had some stops on defense and then we were just running on offense and we were not thinking, we were just sharing the ball. And I think that’s the basketball that we want to play 40 minutes, and not only five, six minutes.
And here are Brondello’s thoughts:
When we went with (Allemand and Conde) and Tima and Izzy Harrison and Laura (Juškaitė), I think it just gave us energy. (Before), we just played slow and no one’s getting into the game, we get down by 18, we had to change something. And sometimes when you’re playing together and playing hard, good things can happen. And we fought our way back. We just need to put together longer stretches of consistency.
Allemand led Toronto with a +15 on-off rating, six ahead of the next highest Tempo player.
No Kiki Rice or Nyara Sabally, but Temi Fagbénlé returned for Toronto
Unfortunately, Kiki Rice did not play in her DC homecoming. The Tempo guard sat for the third-straight game with an ankle injury. Also, Nyara Sabally, who Cat recently suggested might be a Most Improved Player frontrunner, sat with a hamstring injury. No one likes seeing Sabally, whose career has been challenged by injuries, missing any time. Meanwhile, the Mystics were without one of their All-Stars in Kiki Iriafen (ankle sprain).
The Tempo were clearly missing two very important players in Rice and Sabally, so that makes this loss more understandable. Rice is third on the team with 12.7 points per game, while Sabally is fourth with 12.4.
Good news came in the form of Temi Fagbénlé’s return from a shoulder injury. She had only played in Toronto’s opener, also a close loss to Washington. Her return is a positive, but she played just eight minutes and committed five fouls. She is third-highest-paid player on the team at $1 million. We’ll see if she can be integrated into the rotation and become a key contributor.
