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Mabrey Focused on Shore Title, Not 2000 Points

All-American puts team's success ahead of her own

Two years ago, if asked to score 18 points in a single high school basketball game, Michaela Mabrey would have showcased her scoring prowess by scoring 18 by halftime.

Now a senior at Manasquan High School, Mabrey is just 18 points shy of reaching 2000 for her high school basketball career and although she is completely capable of going off for 18 points well before the final buzzer of her team’s next game — the Shore Conference Tournament championship game against St. Rose Friday at Monmouth University — she doesn’t plan on celebrating until that final buzzer.

The Warriors, the No. 1 seed in the Shore Conference Tournament, are one win away from their first SCT champioship since 1983 after beating three-time defending champion Neptune, 49-40, on Tuesday.

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Mabrey played and lost in a Shore Conference Tournament final as a freshman at St. John Vianney in 2009, and as much as she wants to finish her journey to 2,000 points, she and her teammates are more intent on finishing their run to a championship.

“The milestones and the records are going to come,” Mabrey said. “We still have the rest of the Shore Conference Tournament and state (tournament) to go, so there’s a pretty good chance I’ll get it, but this time of year, nobody’s thinking too much about individual accomplishments. Whenever it happens, it will be a great moment, but my focus is on the team and on winning the Shore Conference Tournament and then getting ready to try to win states.”

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Championship or no championship, Mabrey has already attained elite status among Shore Conference basketball players of the last three decades.

She played on an NJSIAA Tournament of Champions championship team as a freshman on St. John Vianney and led the Shore Conference in scoring over the past two seasons.

Next fall, she will attend the University of Notre Dame on a full basketball scholarship.

On Feb. 9, Mabrey was officially selected to play in the March 28 McDonald’s Girls All-American Game in Chicago, a prestigious showcase for the best boys and girls high school players in the country.

She is the first Shore Conference girl to ever be selected for the game and the second player of either gender. John Crotty of Christian Brothers Academy, who played 12 seasons in the NBA, played in the 1987 game.

If just playing in the game is not exciting enough, Mabrey will be taking the court at the United Center on her 18th birthday.

“I’m so excited,” Mabrey said. “I got my (customized McDonald’s All-American) ball the other day. Well, I didn’t get it, but I saw it, which was crazy. There were like 600 girls considered for it and before the final list came out, I didn’t really think about it. With that many girls, I just thought, ‘Whatever happens happens,’ but when the teams came out and I heard I was going, I couldn’t believe it.”

To find the source of Mabrey’s basketball success, one need not look further than her upbringing.

Michaela Mabrey is the second of five children, all of whom play basketball.

Her older brother Roy is a former CBA standout himself, now playing at Division II Saint Anselm and leading the team in scoring as a freshman, and Michaela cut her teeth playing against a brother two years her senior.

“My brother had the biggest influence on me because he was always playing and I always looked up to him,” Mabrey said. “I would always play with him and he’d always beat me, but it never made me want to stop trying to beat him. He’s been such a huge part of my success and my overall development, not just helping me get better, but with the support he’s always shown me.”

Mabrey started playing organized basketball at age 7 when she was introduced to former Seton Hall University player and accomplished high school boys basketball coach Tom Flaherty and his daughter, Katelynn, who is now Mabrey’s teammate on the Warriors.

Mabrey and Flaherty, now a sophomore at Manasquan, have been playing together ever since, and with Mabrey only 18 points away from the 2000-point milestone and Flaherty , the Warriors have two players with a likelihood of eclipsing 2,000 points in their careers.

“Scoring a thousand points before the end of your sophomore year is pretty incredible,” said Mabrey, who reached the milestone early in her junior season. “We’ve been playing together for as long as we’ve known each other so when one of us does something or reaches a milestone, it feels like we’re both doing it together because that’s the way it’s always been.”

Two 2000-point scorers is enough to classify a team as once-in-a-generation in the Shore Conference, but Manasquan may have three with the emergence of freshman Marina Mabrey, Michaela’s younger sister.

In Saturday’s 68-45 win over Rumson-Fair Haven in the SCT quarterfinals, on a team with a McDonald’s All-American and a guard with 1000 points in fewer than two seasons, Marina Mabrey was the standout.

She matched her older sister with a game-high 23 points and added nine rebounds, four assists and six steals while shooting 6-for-10 from the field.

As proud as Michaela is of her own accomplishments, she takes as much pride in her belief that Marina has a chance to be even better than her older sister.

“When you’re one of five and everyone is playing basketball, you can’t help but become more competitive,” Mabrey said. “It made me a better player to have Roy to play against, and it’s a big advantage for Marina because she has both me and Roy to compete with. That’s why I think she has a chance to be a really special player.”

“I’ve learned a lot from Michaela just by watching her and playing with her,” Marina Mabrey said. “We’re different in some ways, but she’s still had a big influence on my game”

During her sophomore year, Mabrey was a pure scorer who frequently hoisted 20 shots in a given game and tried to carry her team by scoring.

Once Flaherty joined the team, Mabrey has shared the ball, not only in the interest of winning, but in the interest of elevating her teammates.

What makes her tick is that not only does she want to be the best, but she wants those close to her to join her in the spotlight.

When Mabrey reaches the 2,000-point milestone, it will signify the level at which she played over the past four seasons, but it won’t define her high school career as much as winning championships at Manasquan.

She had a chance to stay on with state power St. John Vianney and compete for state championships every season, but instead chose to play at Manasquan with her closest basketball friend in Katelynn and, eventually, her younger sister.

“We’ve been playing together for so long that we know what each other is thinking and we know exactly what we all want to do at any given moment and it makes us so hard to stop,” Michaela said. “That’s why we wanted to all play together in high school. Katelynn’s one of my closest friends and Marina’s my little sister, so they’re more than just teammates. We care about each other on and off the court and it’s made this year extra special.”

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