Marina Mabry couldn’t stop laughing.
She smiled after she made three 3-pointers, she smiled during her halftime interview and she smiled after the game when she was asked how it felt to wear a Connecticut Suns uniform.
In his first game as a member of the Sun, it looked like Mabry might be the missing piece in the team’s pursuit of victory. WNBA Championship. The veteran shooter, whom the Suns acquired from Chicago last month, finished with 17 points (7-for-13 from the field), four rebounds, three assists and two steals as the Suns outplayed the Wings from start to finish.
After the game, Mabrey sat down alongside DeWanna Bonner and reflected on what it was like playing with a team of experienced players, as opposed to the young, rebuilding team they played with in Chicago a few weeks earlier, with a rookie leading the way and everyone trying to find their role.
“When you play with veteran guys that make it a lot easier for everybody, it makes it a lot easier to read them and react,” Mabrey said. “They make everybody look a lot better, so I’m thankful for that.”
Bonner, the Suns’ leading scorer this season, poured in 29 points on 8-of-14 shooting, while Alyssa Thomas had a prototypical triple-double with 12 points, 14 assists and eight rebounds.
“Marina has given our team a new lease of life,” Alyssa Thomas said on the ION broadcast after the game. “We need the 3-point shot, and that’s what she does best.”
The Suns finished the game with 11 3-pointers: four from Bonner, three from Mabrey and three from Ty Harris, who finished with 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting, an unusually high mark for a team that ranks last in the league in 3-point shooting and one the Suns know they need to improve on.
“To win championships and compete, you need 3-point shooting,” Thomas said. They’re one step closer now.
With the win, Connecticut improves to 19-6 on the season and moves into second place overall. The Wings fall to 6-20, further away from the bottom of the playoff picture. Dallas was led by Areke Ogunbowale (21 points, 6-for-12 field goals) and Sato Sabalay (20 points, 6-for-17 field goals). Sabalay played his first game as a wing after missing the first half of the season with a shoulder injury.
DeWanna Bonner bounces back with win
For Bonner, her efficient shooting (4-for-7 from 3-point range) was a welcome sign. She spent her Olympic holidays in Paris, cheering on her fiancée, Alyssa Thomas, and hitting the gym every day there. “I’m a workaholic,” she said.
“Two days after I got there, I found a gym, a trainer and we did some shooting practice,” Bonner said. “I don’t think I was at my best in the first half. [of the season]”…But I’m an old guy. I need rest. So, that’s what happens.”
His shooting was smooth against the Dream, and it also helped that he had another skilled shot-shooter to aim at his shots.
“When you have a player like Marina, she can just gel right in and fit in with the team we have and we don’t have to slow down at all,” Bonner said. “I think it’s a big thing to be able to do that, just get her out there and we’ll have a chance to give her a shot.”
