Irish guard Dara Mabrey leaves Notre Dame vs. Virginia with leg injury
Dara Mabrey‘s agonizing cries could be heard from the press box situated high above the rest of the seats at Purcell Pavilion. The Notre Dame graduate student guard left the Fighting Irish’s game Sunday with a knee injury. A Notre Dame spokesperson ruled her out for the rest of the game.
Mabrey stole the ball from the Virginia Cavaliers and raced down the floor in a one-on-one situation with a UVA defender. She went up for a contested layup, bumped bodies with the defender and crashed to the floor. She immediately and audibly voiced her pain, clutching at her right knee.
Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey came over to console Mabrey. Irish trainers went through their process of helping her out. After a few minutes, they helped her up the tunnel and to the locker room. Mabrey did not put any pressure on her right leg as she made her way there.
Mabrey’s injury occurred less than two minutes into the game at the 8:01 mark. Her only registered statistics in 1:59 of time on the floor were the steal and a missed three-point shot.
Mabrey has started in every game for Notre Dame this season, a common theme the last three years. She transferred to Notre Dame in 2020-21 after two years at Virginia Tech. Since then, she has started all 70 games the Irish have played in the last three seasons.
Mabrey is averaging 9.9 points in 30.8 minutes per game this season. That is a career-low for Mabrey, as is her three-point shooting percentage of 29.5 percent. Mabrey has been in a self-admitted slump of late, hitting just 5 of her last 38 attempts from beyond the arc including Sunday’s miss.
Ivey and the Irish have complete confidence Mabrey can snap out of it. Ivey reassured the media of that after last week’s win at Clemson. Now it’s possible Mabrey might not have the chance to prove her coach correct if the injury is season-ending.
If Mabrey does not return to the floor this season, she finishes her college career with 301 three-pointers made across five seasons at Virginia Tech and Notre Dame. Nobody who has played in a blue and gold uniform has ever made more. The previous record was held by Mabrey’s sister, Marina, at 275 three-point splashes.
