Marina Mabrey Led The Sun To A Big Game 1 Win Over The Cold-Shooting Fever

All eight teams that made it to the WNBA Playoffs were in action on Sunday, as the league had a quadruple-header of Game 1s to get the postseason started. The opening game was an unsurprising blowout win by the top-seeded New York Liberty over the 8-seeded Atlanta Dream, but many hoped the second game of the day would produce some fireworks.

That game saw the Indiana Fever go on the road to face the Connecticut Sun, with Caitlin Clark looking to make a mark in her first career playoff game. However, the Sun had other plans as they steadily pulled ahead of the Fever until the floodgates opened in the fourth and the home team ran away with a 93-69 victory. Marina Mabrey led the way for Indiana with 27 points off the bench, as the big midseason acquisition showed why Connecticut went out and got her from Chicago at the deadline, burying 5-of-12 attempts from three on her way to a game-high 27 points on the afternoon.

The biggest question for the Sun early in the season was whether they had enough firepower from three, and Mabrey made an emphatic statement about what her addition means in that regard for Connecticut. Her hot shooting night came alongside a typically dominant performance from the Sun inside, as DeWanna Bonner had 22 points, six rebounds, and five assists, while Alyssa Thomas posted her fourth career playoff triple-double with 12 points, 13 assists, and 10 boards.

On the other end of the floor, the Sun’s pressure gave the young Fever fits, as Indiana simply could not find their typical form from beyond the arc, going 6-of-28 from three as a team. While Kelsey Mitchell had 21 points on 9-of-20 shooting, she was only 2-of-10 from three, and Caitlin Clark was an even colder 2-of-13 from deep as she couldn’t get in any kind of rhythm against Connecticut’s size and physicality, finishing with just 11 points.

Aliyah Boston was the bright spot for Indiana in Game 1, with 17 points and 11 rebounds on 8-of-14 shooting, but the star backcourt will have to be much better to push this series to a Game 3. It’s now on Indiana to figure out how to get the offense rolling in Game 2, as the young Fever aren’t a team that’s going to suddenly win a rock fight against this Sun squad. They’ll need to find the flow and rhythm that saw them dominate opposing defenses after the All-Star and Olympic break, otherwise it’ll be at least one more year before Indiana gets a home playoff game.