So, about those 53 points.For the third time in WNBA history, a player scored 53 points in a single game that ended in regulation, with the latest addition maybe the most surprising of the bunch. The Toronto Tempo’s Marina Mabrey, who has never even made an All-Star team, lit up the Los Angeles Sparks in a 125-97 win Friday by making 17 of 28 from the floor and 10 of 12 free throws, tying A’ja Wilson and Liz Cambage for the highest-scoring game in league history.In the process, Mabrey also tied the record for most 3-pointers in a game (nine), a mark she also equaled two games prior. Of the nine times a player has hit nine triples in a game, three came in a two-week stretch this season: these two by Mabrey and Las Vegas’ Chelsea Gray on June 11.Mabrey has been on quite the heater this calendar year, starting with a 47-point performance in Unrivaled on Jan. 30. That court is smaller, but she put up that total in just over 21 minutes and hit 10 3-pointers. Three of her seven 30-point WNBA games have come this season with Toronto, and with Brittney Sykes injured, Mabrey is cooking even more. She set a career high on June 19 with 37 points (the first game in which she hit nine 3s) before exploding for her 53 on Thursday.Mabrey is playing for the most offensive-minded head coach of her WNBA career in Sandy Brondello, but she’s also playing in the friendliest offensive environment in league history. WNBA teams were averaging 86.4 points per game entering Sunday, nearly five points higher than last year’s mark of 81.7. The league’s highest previous scoring average, outside of the 2020 bubble (83.1 points), was 82.7 per game in 2023. Efficiency is at its highest with a leaguewide effective field-goal percentage of 51.1 percent. Per Across the Timeline, there have been 58 games in WNBA history where both teams have scored at least 100 points; 10 have come in the 2026 season. Kamilla Cardoso also set a record this past week with 13 made field goals and no misses in a win over Portland.