Marina Mabrey realizes that things might have gone too far when she shoved Caitlin Clark last year.
Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun fans can likely still well recall the explosive moment between the pair that ultimately resulted in an on-court brawl between Clark's teammate Sophie Cunningham and Mabrey's teammate Jacey Sheldon. The Fever hosted the Sun in Indianapolis for what turned out to be a combative rematch between the two teams, and one of a handful of games Clark played in 2025.
Tensions between the teams began to spiral in the third quarter, when the Fever were up 55-45. Clark had the ball when Sheldon poked her in the eye, which kicked off a bit of a shoving match between the pair. Mabrey joined and pushed Clark to the floor. Sheldon got a flagrant 1 foul, Clark was hit with a technical, Mabrey had her own tech, and Tina Charles, who approached Clark during the exchange, received an offsetting tech.
But that wasn't all: near the end of the game, Sheldon was attempting a breakaway layup when Cunningham completely wrapped her arms around the opposing player and pulled her to the ground. Cunningham and Sheldon were both ejected from the game.
Marina Mabrey now says her behavior was "too much"
In a recent interview for Sue Bird's podcast, Mabrey acknowledged that she personally went too far during the exchange. As she put it, "I'm 100% aware" when a behavior is too much.
"So for example, the Caitlin thing, when the play was over and everyone was like, that was obvious that my emotions of us losing and losing and losing and then she's low key punking her team on top of it. That was too far, that was too much," Mabrey said, a reference to the Sun's disappointing 2025 season and Clark's well-document proclivity for on-court trash talk.
The moment is one that fans are unlikely to forget anytime soon, and future Sun-Fever games will offer insight into whether tensions still exist. Sheldon was traded to the Mystics last August, which could mean that games between the Washington, D.C., team and the Fever will also be under a little more scrutiny than they otherwise might be.
Mabrey is well aware of the fact that her temper can sometimes get the best of her during games, and previously admitted her response during this specific exchange was an overreaction.