Few WNBA players compete with the same edge and fire that Marina Mabrey does.<\/p>\n
The former national championship winner with Notre Dame likes to talk trash, always plays hard and has a tendency to mix it up with opponents. Every now and then, Mabrey says in a\u00a0recent podcast interview with Sue Bird, her emotions get the best of her.<\/p>\n
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In a joint interview with Connecticut Sun teammate Aaliyah Edwards on Bird\u2019s Eye View, Mabrey talked about her \u201ccrash outs\u201d \u2014 a slang term for moments when people lose control of their emotions and act in a wildly impulsive way.<\/p>\n
With Mabrey, the signature \u201ccrash out\u201d moment happened last June in a game against the Indiana Fever. Moments after play was halted after Jacy Sheldon seemingly hit Caitlin Clark in the eye while defending her, Clark and Sheldon exchanged some light pushes. Mabrey then came up and blindsided Clark, shoving her to the floor.<\/p>\n
Later in the game, Sheldon was wrapped up under the basket by Sophie Cunningham, leading to a scuffle where Sheldon, Cunningham and Lindsay Allen got ejected. Clark scored 20 points and dished out six assists, leading the Fever to secure a spot in the Commissioner\u2019s Cup.<\/p>\n
For the Sun, it was their ninth loss in their first 11 games. Mabrey says the losing, combined with Clark cooking their defense, made her boil over.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI\u2019m 100% aware, like I know when I went too far with things. It\u2019s like shameful. It\u2019s like, \u2018Really, Marina? That was ridiculous.\u2019 So like, for example, the Caitlin thing,\u201d Mabrey said. \u201cThat was obvious that my emotions of us losing and losing and losing, and then she\u2019s low-key punking our team on top of it \u2014 that was too far. That was too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mabrey said that while responding to a question from Bird about finding the balance between maintaining her competitive edge, but not taking things too far. Mabrey pointed to a moment in Unrivaled this season where she and Sug Sutton exchanged a few pushes and came face-to-face before being separated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe little scuffle between me and Sug, that was perfect, because it was just enough that it fueled me and the team,\u201d Mabrey explained. \u201cOn the flip side, when we were in Indiana, everyone is booing us, it feels like [expletive], we end up losing by 25, and it\u2019s like, \u2018Marina, that\u2019s your fault, buddy. You can\u2019t do that.\u2019 So, just finding the balance where it teeters toward the positive end for me and my team and keeping that there, and knowing when it\u2019s going past that and stopping that before it goes past that.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Mabrey, playing for the Lunar Owls, leads Unrivaled in scoring this season with 26.8 points per game.<\/p>\n