Feb. 20, 2017
By Leigh Torbin
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Following her third consecutive 20-point game, sophomore Marina Mabrey has been named the ACC’s Player of the Week for her role in lifting the fifth-ranked Irish to a pair of road wins this week ââ’¬” in the process reassuming sole possession of first place in the elite conference.
Mabrey averaged 25.5 points in victories at Clemson and No. 21 Syracuse, shooting 62% from the floor, 55% from three and 93% from the foul line.
On Thursday night at Clemson, Mabrey scored a career-high 29 points, 24 of them coming in the second half, to help Notre Dame dodge an upset. The New Jersey native shot 11-of-16 (69%) against the Tigers from the floor and hit all four of her foul shots.
On Sunday at No. 21 Syracuse, Mabrey kept Notre Dame in the game with 13 first quarter points while the Irish weathered a ferocious early Orange onslaught before a women’s record crowd at the Carrier Dome. She made nine of 10 free throws against the Orange including a crucial pair with 10 seconds to go and the Irish up just 81-80.
For the season, Mabrey leads the Irish with 16.1 points per game in ACC play and stands third on the team with 14.3 points per game for the whole season. She has six 20-point games in league play, including a trio of games where she has netted at least 25 points. Mabrey also has 38 assists in league play (2.7 per game), second on the Irish behind just Lindsay Allen.
The Irish (25-3, 13-1 ACC) will be back in action on Thursday night as they welcome Boston College to Purcell Pavilion for Senior Night. With a win, Notre Dame would claim at least a share of its fourth-straight ACC regular season championship, a crown the team could claim outright in a Sunday afternoon showdown against No. 8 Florida State at Purcell Pavilion.
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Leigh Torbin, athletics communications associate director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2013 and coordinates all media efforts for Notre Dame’s women’s basketball and men’s golf teams. A native of Framingham, Massachusetts, Torbin graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in sports management. He has previously worked full-time on the athletic communications staffs at Vanderbilt, Florida, Connecticut and UCF.