The Bay Area’s newest sports franchise, the Golden State Valkyries (6-3), faced off against the defending WNBA champions, the Las Vegas Aces (6-3), in an exciting matchup at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Sunday. 18,064 fans filled the arena, marking the Valkyries’ 29th consecutive sold-out game. It was also the Valkyries’ Stanford night, bringing many students, drawing faculty and alumni to the game.
The game started off close in the first half with 12 lead changes between both teams. Eventually, the Aces found themselves back on top after the second quarter, 43-41.
The Valkyries shot the ball well, at 65.9% from 3 in the first half — a 74.8% increase from their season 3-point average. Still, the Aces had strong defense, a flowing offense and rebounds that gave them the lead at the half. Valkyries’ forward Janelle Salaün reached her 500th career point in the first quarter.
Head coach of the Valkyries, Natalie Nakase, did not think her team performed well in the first half. “We’re not protecting the paint, we’re not outrebounding the Aces, we are just not being disciplined enough in general,” she said.
The Las Vegas Aces’ head coach Becky Hammon, also hoped that her team’s performance would improve in the second half. “We’ve been pretty good in the first twenty, pretty awful in the second twenty, so hopefully we play the next twenty minutes hard,” she said.
The Aces started to separate from the Valkyries in the third quarter. At one point, the Aces went on an 11-1 run and had a 14-point lead. Jackie Young, Aces guard, hit a triple, allowing her to break the 3,500 WNBA career points mark.
The Aces ended the quarter with an 18-point lead.
The fourth quarter became more intense as the Valkyries began to chip away at the Aces’ lead, going on an 11-0 run near the end of the quarter and outscoring them 20-13 within eight minutes and 49 seconds of the fourth. But the offensive burst from the Valkyries wasn’t enough. The Aces won the victory in The Bay, 91-81.
Even though the Valkyries were down by as much as 24 points in the game, Gabby Williams still shined brightly, leading the Valkyries’ offense with 20 points and four rebounds — a season high for the guard. She also had one assist and two steals.
On the Aces side, Aja Wilson led the game with a double-double. She had 28 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, four blocks and one steal. Though three or four players were defending her at times, she was still able to score in the paint.
Despite the Valkyries’ loss, the team’s fourth-quarter performance made Williams hopeful.
“This is a long season, so our depth is going to be our strength,” Williams said. “Those guys getting in those minutes during crunch time, and against a really good team, the defending champs, that’s huge for us.”
When asked what adjustments were needed, Nakase said, “It starts with my leadership, and what I’m saying to them. It’s how I’m correcting them. So it starts with me. I got to correct my message. I got to deliver better.”
For the Aces, Wilson said her team “wanted to make sure we played basketball the right way and come out with the energy that’s needed…this was a good test to see how we can show up for one another.”
The game marked Becky Hammon’s 150th win as a head coach in the WNBA.