"She threw me into the benches": Marina Mabrey recalls previous altercation with Caitlin Clark while discussing infamous shove (Exclusive)

Marina Mabrey and Caitlin Clark were involved in an altercation where the Connecticut Sun star shoved the Indiana Fever guard after a foul in June. Indiana secured an 88-71 win in a chippy game, with players from both teams going at each other.

By the end, three players were ejected and several technical fouls were issued. However, the night's main talking point was Mabrey's shove on Clark after the Fever phenom was hit in the face. Initially, Mabrey was handed a technical foul for her actions, but later it was upgraded to a flagrant two offense.

On Saturday, the Sun guard sat down with Sportskeeda's Mark Medina for an exclusive interview where she cleared the air on the infamous shove and the ensuing upgrade of her technical foul after a league review.

"I thought it only got upgraded to a flagrant-2 because the way the fans reacted to it," Mabrey said. "They gave me a tech for it. I don’t care, honestly. I really don’t. Obviously, I’m not trying to hurt anybody. I’m not trying to go after certain players for certain sh**. Me and Caitlin, we're cool."

Mabrey backed her explanation with an example from the Fever-Sun first-round clash in last season's playoffs.

"Me and Caitlin have competed against each other in the playoffs. She threw me into the benches in the quarterfinals," Mabrey said. "We didn’t go after her for it. She’s competitive, and I was about to get the ball. I get it. Throw me out of bounds. We got back up and kept competing."

Later, the Sun guard said she was not OK with her teammate getting hit, but her actions were not out of spite. She also acknowledged that she overreacted in the moment.

Marina Mabrey didn't apologize for shoving Caitlin Clark

Following her altercation with Caitlin Clark on June 17, Marina Mabrey didn't apologize for shoving the Fever guard. The Sun guard reportedly directed her response to a commentator on the game's livestream after he called her out for the shove.

"Damned if I do, damned if I don't," she said, via Sports Illustrated.

Mabrey's words seemingly align with her explanation of the event she provided in Saturday's exclusive interview. If the Sun guard had not protected her teammate, she would have been labeled a bad teammate, and when she protected her teammate, fans and observers vilified her.