NEED TO KNOW
While talking about her crash outs on the basketball court, Marina Mabrey revisited a heated altercation she had with Caitlin Clark
During a June 2025 game, Mabrey pushed Clark to the ground, resulting in a technical foul
“That was obvious that my emotions of us losing and losing and losing, and then she’s low-key punking our team on top of it… That was too far. That was too much,” Mabrey reflected
Marina Mabrey reflected on her heated interaction with Caitlin Clark during a WNBA game, describing it as an example of a time when she went “too far.”
The 29-year-old basketball player, who is a member of the Connecticut Sun and plays for the Lunar Owls in the Unrivaled division, was given a technical foul after shoving Clark, 24, during a June 17, 2025 face-off between the Sun and the Indiana Fever.
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Looking back during a Friday, Feb. 13, appearance on the Bird’s Eye View podcast, Mabrey admitted that she has developed a bit of a reputation for crashing out during games. However, she made it clear that she knows when she’s pushing the limit with her passionate reactions.
Caitlin Clark falls to the ground during a June 2025 match-up between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun
Dylan Buell/Getty
“I know when I went too far with things. It’s like shameful. It’s like, ‘Really, Marina? That was ridiculous,’ ” Mabrey admitted, specifically referencing her run-in with Clark. “That was obvious that my emotions of us losing and losing and losing, and then she’s low-key punking our team on top of it… That was too far. That was too much.”
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Mabrey said that finding a balance in terms of handling her so-called crash outs is key, explaining that there are moments when they can help her fellow teammates feel reinvigorated.
“On the flip side, when we were in Indiana, everyone is booing us, it feels like s—. We end up losing by 25, and it’s like, ‘Marina, that’s your fault, buddy. You can’t do that,’ ” she admitted, saying her goal is “finding the balance where it teeters toward the positive end for me and my team and keeping that there, and knowing when it’s going past that and stopping that before it goes past that.”
She added, “Everybody’s had that one teammate that just goes crazy, and you’re just looking at them like, ‘Can you please get over yourself?’ And I need to stay away from that side and go toward the side where you’re amped up.”
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The basketball star has come up with a way to hold herself accountable, creating a “crash out jar,” which operates like a swear jar. Funds from it will be donated to a charity, she explained on the podcast, saying that it helps “hold [her] accountable.”
“A lot of people have a lot to say about when I crash out. They’re really upset about it. So, whether I think it’s fair or not, like whatever. I want to hold myself accountable because it’s not really who I am. It’s just that on the courts sometimes I’m so competitive that I just like… The wires just… I don’t know. The wires go a little nuts sometimes.”
Mabrey’s crash out with Clark happened in the third quarter of the game after the Fever player was poked in the eye by Jacy Sheldon, a guard for the Sun.
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Marina Mabrey and Caitlin Clark, from left during a September 2024 game
Joe Buglewicz/Getty
Clark and Sheldon shoved each other, and Mabrey came up on her opponent from behind and bumped her hard enough that she fell to the ground. Clark was also given a technical foul, and Sheldon received a flagrant 1 penalty.
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After the game, Clark opted out of addressing the moment, asking reporters to “talk about basketball.”
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“At the end of the day, I’m here to play basketball and that’s what I’m going to do. My game’s gonna talk, and that’s all that really matters. I love this game and I’m gonna give it everything I have,” she said when asked about needing to “stand up for herself.”
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