The Golden State Valkyries have limped into the All-Star break.
Just two weeks ago, the Valkyries were two games above .500 with the chance to climb toward the top of the league standings.
But after a 67-58 loss to the Seattle Storm on Wednesday, the Valkyries have lost three straight and five of six to drop to 10-12. While boasting a 7-4 record at home, the Valkyries are 3-8 on the road.
Golden State had a balanced scoring attack as all 11 players who were available scored.
But it wasn’t enough.
Stanford alum Nneka Ogwumike had 22 points and eight rebounds to lead Seattle to the win. Erica Wheeler had 15 points and Skylar Diggins contributed 10 points and six assists.
Cecilia Zandalasini led the Valkyries with 12 points. French rookie Janelle Salaün had 10 points.
Golden State was held to a season-low 58 points.
“We just didn’t make shots,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said. “We had good looks, but the ball just didn’t bounce our way. That’s going to happen sometimes.”
In the two previous matchups with the Storm in San Francisco, the Valkyries built sizable halftime leads but that wasn’t the case in Seattle.
Despite holding the Storm to 34.2% shooting, Golden State struggled to stop Ogwumike, who scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds in the first half.
Ogwumike combined for just 14 points in the previous two games against the Valkyries.
Golden State kept the ball moving on the offensive end as the Valkyries had nine assists on 11 made shots in the first two quarters. They went into the halftime break tied at 31.
Though they struggled to score in the third quarter, the Valkyries trailed by only four going into the final 10 minutes.
Golden State got within one possession of Seattle’s lead multiple times throughout the fourth quarter, but couldn’t find consistent scoring to take a lead.
“I think they were just more physical than us,” Zandalasini said. “We got good runs, but we weren’t really able to get behind them until the last quarter. I don’t know if it was fatigue or what, but we got good looks and sometimes you miss, sometimes you make. That’s just the way we play.”
The loss dropped the Valkyries to ninth in the WNBA standings.
Here are takeaways from Wednesday’s game:
Struggles to score
For the second straight game, the Valkyries couldn’t get anything going on offense.
Golden State shot 31.7% from the field. In the third quarter, the Valkyries shot 4 of 16 and were outscored 17-13 in the period.
Kayla Thornton, the Valkyries’ leading scorer and All-Star game representative, scored just four points on 1-of-9 shooting. She entered play Wednesday having shot just 30.5% in the previous five games.
Salaün has been up and down since returning from EuroBasket. She shot 3-for-9 in the loss and has shot better than 40% from the field in just one game since returning to the team last week.
“I’m not shooting well,” Salaün said. “I think it can happen. We come from overseas and we’ve been playing all year long. I’m not trying to look for excuses, but it can happen sometimes.”
Zandalasini making way back into rotation
Zandalasini struggled in her first few games since returning from EuroBasket. She was a healthy scratch against the Indiana Fever and Atlanta Dream last week.
But Nakase had acclimated the third-year sharpshooter more into the rotation in the last few games, and even inserted Zandalasini into the closing lineup in Monday’s loss to the Phoenix Mercury.
Along with her 12 points on Wednesday, Zandalasini added four rebounds and a block. She hit a clutch 3-pointer at the 6:35 mark of the fourth quarter to cut the Storm’s lead to two.
“Cecilia is a beautiful basketball player,” Nakase said. “She’s smooth. She reads the game really well. She could pass. She can shoot on all three levels. And she’s a playmaker without people even realizing it.
“Cecilia to me is like, big heart, big selfless player. And why I love to coach basketball.”
Nakase feeling good about All-Star break
Though the Valkyries are going into the All-Star break with a losing record, they have still exceeded the expectations that were put on them before the season started.
Golden State is a half-game behind the Las Vegas Aces for the final playoff spot.
The Valkyries have one of the easiest schedules in the league going forward, with eight games against teams that are currently not in playoff contention.
“I feel proud,” Nakase said about where the team stands at the midway point. “Especially with a bunch of players not knowing each other. Seeing their faces day one and now being able to kind of go at them in a different way and just be authentically myself … I feel great.”
