Marina Mabrey scored 21 of her career-best 37 points in the fourth quarter Friday night and the Toronto Tempo came back to defeat the Connecticut Sun 101-97 at Uncasville, Conn.
Mabrey, a former Sun player, also made a career-best nine 3-pointers in 12 attempts, tying a WNBA record for 3-point makes in a contest. That hot shooting helped Toronto (8-8) snap a three-game losing streak.
The Sun (2-15), who led by 16 points in the second quarter, have lost seven straight. The Tempo also defeated the Sun on June 10 in overtime after trailing by 14.
Temi Fagbenle and Maria Conde contributed 19 points each for the injury-depleted Tempo. Isabelle Harrison added 15 points.
Kennedy Burke scored 18 points off the bench to lead the Sun.
Brittney Griner added 16 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Leila Lacan also scored 16 points, Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 13 points and Diamond Miller scored 10.
The Sun led by 10 points entering the fourth quarter. Lacan scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to expand the lead to 15. Fagbenle scored five straight points to cut the margin to one with 4:17 to play. Mabrey’s layup put Toronto in front by one with 3:16 left and her 3-pointer with 1:03 remaining gave Toronto a four-point lead on the way to the win.
The Sun led 24-20 after the first quarter.
The lead reached eight points with 5:34 to play in the second quarter on Nelson-Ododa’s layup.
The Sun, who were dominating the paint, took a 16-point lead on Griner’s putback layup to finish a 14-0 run with 2:04 remaining in the first half. The Sun led 50-37 at halftime, fueled by a 28-10 advantage in points in the paint.
Toronto shot 36.1% (13 for 36) from the field in the first half, while Connecticut shot 54.3% (19 for 35).
Toronto reduced the lead to seven with 7:24 remaining in the third quarter on Julie Allemand’s layup. Toronto then cut the margin to six before Connecticut scored four consecutive points. The Sun led by 13 with 2:34 left after Burke scored a layup and added another following her quick steal on the inbound pass. Connecticut was ahead 74-64 after three quarters.
Toronto was without Brittney Sykes (left foot), Nyara Sabally (right hamstring) and Kiki Rice (left ankle).
–Field Level Media
