SAN FRANCISCO —The Golden State Valkyries’ first game in franchise history will go down as a loss, but the expansion team walked off the floor winning over their fans.
In a valiant effort, the Valkyries second-half comeback fell short as they lost their season opener to the Los Angeles Sparks 84-67 at Chase Center. The sellout crowd of 18,064 gave the Valkyries a standing ovation despite the team going cold in the fourth quarter. Sitting court side were Golden State Warriors Brandin Podziemski, Jonathan Kuminga, Kevon Looney and Buddy Hield along with head coach Steve Kerr and owner Joe Lacob.
“With the type of environment that we had, would I take that every single time, every game? Yes, 100%,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said. “But for a lot of them, this is the first time to start, first time to heavy minutes. … We’ll clean it up, we’ll take a look at it. But I know there’s a lot of room for improvement and their effort was there.”
After trailing by just six heading into the fourth quarter, the Valkyries scored just seven points in the final 10 minutes of the game. The Sparks scored 25 points on 21 Golden State turnovers.
“I think we got a little bit stagnant and on defense we let the hot girls get hot,” guard Tiffany Hayes said about what went wrong in the fourth quarter. “We had way too many turnovers, especially in the fourth quarter. So, we have to learn from those.”
Tiffany Hayes led the Valkyries with 19 points and nine rebounds. Julie Vanloo single-handedly brought the Valkyries back in the third quarter as she scored nine of her 14 points in the period to jumpstart Golden State’s comeback run.
Los Angeles guard Kelsey Plum dominated from start to finish, scoring 37 points on 57.9% shooting from the field in her first game with the Sparks. She knocked down all 11 of her free throws attempts.
The Sparks looked poised to run away with the game early in the third quarter. Plum got to the paint at will as she helped Los Angeles build a 15-point lead with just over three minutes left in the period.
But just as it looked like the game was slipping away, Vanloo jolted life into the Valkyries. The 5-foot-8 point guard did her best Stephen Curry impression, knocking down three straight 3-pointers to cut the Sparks’ lead to six going into the fourth quarter.
“The moment I saw Steve Kerr, I just got hyped,” Vanloo said. “I said ‘Alright, let me show him something,’”
But in the fourth, the Sparks put the Valkyries in multiple pick-and-rolls with Plum getting to the line or finding her teammates for open shots. Golden State couldn’t regain its momentum from the third quarter and were eventually outpaced by a better offense.
The Sparks’ offense scored Golden State 18-7 in the fourth quarter with Plum scoring nine points in the period to close the game.
“She’s an amazing player and she showed that tonight,” Hayes said. ” She’s a three-level scorer. She shoots the lights out of the ball and that’s what she showed tonight.”
After taking a one-point lead after the first quarter, Golden State trailed 42-39 at halftime. Los Angeles used a 9-0 run in the middle of the second quarter to take an eight-point lead.
The Valkyries recovered behind 13 first half points from starting center Temi Fagbenle. The 6-foot-4 center had 13 points, which included hitting two of her three 3-point attempts, to lead Golden State in the first half. Prior to Friday’s game, Fagbenle had just three made 3s in her WNBA career.
With forwards Stephanie Talbot, Cecilia Zandalasini and Janelle Salaün unavailable due to injuries, the Sparks took advantage inside. Los Angeles scored 30 of its 40 paint points in the first half.
The Valkyries will play their next game on Wednesday at home against the Washington Mystics.
