For the second time in three games, the Golden State Valkyries turned a sluggish start into a dominant win with a third-quarter surge.
After struggling to find a rhythm in the first half, the Valkyries blitzed the Chicago Sky out of the halftime break and cruised to a 90-59 win. Golden State outscored Chicago 27-9 in the third quarter as the Valkyries seemingly couldn’t miss from the perimeter.
Cecilia Zandalasini led the Valkyries with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Janelle Salaün added 15 points and Tiffany Hayes had 13.
The Valkyries came into Friday’s game shooting 35% on 29 attempts in the last 10 games. Golden State continued its hot streak from downtown, hitting 14 of its 27 shots from beyond the arc.
The Valkyries have now won four straight games – their longest win streak in franchise history. The Valkyries improved to 18-15 with the win and are now 1/2 game ahead of the Indiana Fever for the sixth seed, following their 88-84 loss to the Washington Mystics on Friday.
“Our new goal is to make the playoffs. And so ever since we said that we are in a must win situation, it’s kind of come to fruition,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said. “I think it’s just really taking on the challenge of the goal. I asked them if this is what you guys want. They’re like, ‘Yeah.’ … They’re sacrificing and they’re becoming elite pros.”
Golden State surpassed the 1998 Detroit Shock for the most wins by an expansion team in league history.
But while the accomplishment is historic, the Valkyries don’t see it that way.
“We’re just here to win,” Salaün said. “We don’t really care about if we are an expression team or not, like we just want to win. That’s how we approach the game every every night.”
Kamilla Cardoso led the Sky with 14 points, five assists and four rebounds. Sky star Angel Reese missed her seventh straight game with a back injury.
Golden State led by as much as 12 in the first half, but struggled to end the second quarter strong as Chicago used an 8-1 run in the final three minutes of the period to trail 42-40 at halftime.
Zandalasini, Hayes and Hayes combined to score 23 points through the first two quarters for Golden State, but a 47.1% shooting half for Chicago kept the Valkyries’ advantage small.
Once Golden State found its groove, there was no stopping the expansion team.
Sky guard Rachel Banham cut Golden State’s lead to five with a jumper at the 6:43 mark of the third quarter, but the home team would never get that close again.
Golden State went on an 18-3 run to end the period behind a plethora of buckets from all over the floor. The Valkyries shot 53.8% from the field and hit 11-of-13 of their shots from the foul line to take a 69-49 lead going into the final 10 minutes of play.
The lead grew to as big as 31 for the Valkyries in the fourth quarter, and Nakase was able to clear her benches early in the period as they cruised to a blowout win.
The Valkyries came out hot from tipoff as the visiting team hit 7-of-10 3-pointers in the first quarter to take a four-point lead.
The Valkyries will return to San Francisco on Sunday to play the Atlanta Dream in their next game.
“I think we’re playing very good, very confident,” Zandalasini said after the game. “We know what everybody needs to do. I think we are spreading the floor very well. But also communication, I think we raised that as well. It’s always something that also our leader pointed to us in meetings. I think now that we are communicating more and we are seeing those results.”
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