Gabby Williams leads the way again for Valkyries, who beat Las Vegas 71-60 in Game 1 of WNBA semis
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Gabby Williams had 25 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, Kiah Stokes added 14 rebounds and three blocked shots, and the Golden State Valkyries took Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals by beating the defending champion Las Vegas Aces 71-60 on Sunday.
A'ja Wilson scored 24 points while Chelsea Gray contributed 16 points for Las Vegas, which lost guard Jewell Loyd to a left leg injury early in the third quarter, and was held to its lowest point total of the season. The team said she was being evaluated and coach Becky Hammon didn't have an immediate update afterward.
Playing to chants of “Gabby! Gabby!” from the sellout crowd at Chase Center, Williams scored 18 of her points on 6-for-10 shooting in the first half, including a 3-pointer that put Golden State ahead 32-23 with 5:43 left before halftime.
That defeaning “Ballhalla” home crowd turned the arena into a sea of violet-colored T-shirts and energy the Valkyries have so counted on in their first two seasons. Fans waved and cheered when the final buzzer sounded and confetti fell.
Game 2 in the best-of-five series is Wednesday night back at Chase Center.
“The goal here is to win our home games, so yes we did well for the first game but the Aces are championship-caliber, they know what it takes to win,” Stokes said. “I know in their locker room they're not happy with how they played so their whole goal is to come to our house and still win games, so they still have the opportunity to do that. Going forward we know that we need to come out on Wednesday and make sure we set the tone again.”
Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase was well enough to coach after she went down on the sideline near Golden State's bench with 1:40 remaining Friday night in a 77-73 comeback win to clinch the first-round series against Dallas. She was examined by a doctor during the day off Saturday.
Jackie Young’s 3-pointer with 8:25 left pulled Las Vegas within 58-53. WNBA leading scorer and reigning MVP Wilson made 6 of 11 first-half shots for 15 points for the third-seeded Aces.
It was a defensive, low-scoring game in which neither team shot particularly well — the Valkyries 37.7% to 33.9% for Las Vegas — after both went the distance in the best-of-three first round to advance.
Valkyries point guard Veronica Burton struggled on the offensive end, missing a layup and 3-pointer during one third-quarter sequence and sat down at the 7:29 mark. Nakase then went to Kaitlyn Chen for the rest of the game and she scored 11 points.
Burton didn't have a health issue.
“She's amazing and she's feeling great,” Nakase said. “Kaitlyn Chen was fresh and I'm playing a fresh Kaitlyn Chen.”
Mixing and matching rotations worked out after Golden State shot just 31.4% — 11 for 35 and 5 of 15 on 3s — in the first half. Newcomer Aminata Gueye came off the bench to score nine points in 12-plus minutes for the Valkyries. She signed with the team Sept. 20 after playing with Williams and Janelle Salaun on the French team in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup.
Salaun received a rousing ovation when she entered the game with 2:25 left in the first quarter after being named WNBA Sixth Player of the Year before the game.
Kayla Thornton also pulled down 11 rebounds to go with eight points for the Valkyries, who dominated the boards with a 52-25 advantage.
“We were really really connected tonight, I felt we were communicating, I felt like we were showing them bodies and then it came down to rebounding,” Williams said. “I said after the game that KT and Kiah really won this game for us, limited them to one possession and gave us extra possessions.”
Hammon called it one of her team's "most atrocious games of the season" in which they were outhustled.
“We lost the game on the boards, no question about that,” Hammon said, noting all her team talked about the past 48 hours was rebounding and blocking out.
Golden State was 3 for 10 from 3-point range in the opening quarter and finished just 7 of 24 from deep, also overcoming 14 turnovers that led to 11 Las Vegas points.
Aces forward Stephanie Talbot missed the game because of a left leg injury.
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