The Golden State Valkyries finally found their groove.
After struggling to get anything going offensively in their first two games, the Valkyries had their best shooting game of the season in an 82-73 road win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena. The Valkyries led by as much as 20 points in the third quarter and staved off a fierce comeback from the Sparks in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
Carla Leite scored 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Fellow French teammate Janelle Salaün had 18 points and seven rebounds in her second game in the WNBA.
Golden State shot a season-high 41.5% from the field and 31% from the three-point line.
After scoring 37 points in last week’s season-opening win over the Valkyries, Sparks guard Kelsey Plum was held to 16 on 6-of-18 shooting on Friday. Dearica Hamby led Los Angeles with 25 points and 16 rebounds.
“We had a 20-point lead, but of course they were going to come back,” Salaün said. ” I think we were expecting them to have a run … But we stayed composed and showed we can close out games.”
The Valkyries trailed by two points after the first quarter, but the Bay Area team caught fire in the second.
A jumper from Temi Fágbénlé capped off an 18-0 run to open the period. At one point, Golden State held a 17-point lead after a Kate Martin swished a 3 from the top of the key.
After struggling from beyond the arc in their first two games, the Valkyries made six of their 16 3-point attempts in the first half and shot 50% from the field to lead 49-35 at halftime.
Salaün scored 13 of her 18 points in the first half to lead Golden State.
The Valkyries continued their hot shooting into the third quarter.
A Leite 3 with under a minute left in the period pushed the Golden State lead to 20 – its largest advantage of the game.
Los Angeles made things interesting in the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to five. But the Valkyries made enough plays down the stretch to seal the win.
Golden State will next play at the New York Liberty on Tuesday.