Marina Mabrey couldn’t cease smiling.
She smiled as she sunk three three-pointers, she smiled throughout her halftime interview, and she or he smiled postgame, as she took questions on what it felt prefer to put on a Connecticut Solar uniform.
In her first recreation as a member of the Solar, Mabrey regarded like she might be the lacking piece within the staff’s pursuit of a WNBA championship. The veteran sharpshooter who the Solar acquired from Chicago final month completed with 17 factors (7-13 FG), 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a couple of steals, because the Solar dominated the Wings from begin to end.
Postgame, Mabrey sat alongside DeWanna Bonner and mirrored on what it was prefer to play with such skilled gamers. It’s a pointy distinction from the youthful, rebuilding staff she performed alongside in Chicago just some weeks in the past, the place rookies led the way in which and everybody labored to determine their function.
“Simply enjoying with vets like this who make issues a lot simpler for everyone, it’s form of straightforward to only read-and-react off them,” Mabrey mentioned. “They only make all people look so a lot better, so I’m appreciative of that.”
Bonner, the Solar’s main scorer this season, exploded for 29 factors on 8-14 taking pictures, whereas Alyssa Thomas posted a quintessential close to triple-double — 12 factors, 14 assists, and eight rebounds.
“Marina simply provides one other dynamic to our staff,” Alyssa Thomas mentioned after the sport on the ION broadcast. “We want three-point taking pictures, and that’s her specialty.”
The Solar completed the sport with 11 three-pointers — 4 from Bonner, 3 from Mabrey and three from Ty Harris, who scored 14 factors on 5-8 taking pictures. It’s an unusually excessive determine for a staff that ranks towards the underside of the league from past the arc, and it’s one thing they know they wanted to work on.
“Three-point taking pictures is what you have to win a championship and even compete,” Thomas mentioned. They’re one step nearer now.
With the win, Connecticut improves to 19-6 on the 12 months, good for second total. The Wings fall to 6-20 and farther from the final spot within the playoffs. Dallas was led by Arike Ogunbowale (21 factors, 6-12 FG) and Satou Saballay (20 factors, 6-17 FG). Sabally performed her first recreation as a Wing after lacking the primary half of the season with a shoulder harm.
DeWanna Bonner finds a groove in win
For Bonner, the environment friendly taking pictures (4-7 from three) was a welcome signal. She spent her Olympic break in Paris, cheering on fiance Alyssa Thomas and hitting the fitness center each single day in Paris: “I’m a workaholic.”
“Two days after I landed, I discovered a fitness center and a coach and labored on my shot,” Bonner mentioned. “I really feel prefer it wasn’t the most effective within the first half [of the season]. However, I’m outdated. I have to relaxation. In order that additionally occurs.”
The shot regarded easy within the win over the Dream. It additionally didn’t damage that there was one other sharpshooter trying to create her personal shot alongside
“If you add a chunk like Marina, who can simply leap in and slot in to what we’ve been doing, we don’t should decelerate in any respect,” Bonner mentioned. “I feel that’s large that we will try this — you may simply put her on the market.”
