SAN FRANCISCO — Despite losing a lopsided season-opener to the Los Angeles Sparks, the crowd at Chase Center gave the expansion Valkyries a round of applause as they walked off the floor.
Though the fourth quarter wasn’t pretty, Golden State showed its fight as the Valkyries nearly came back from a 15-point deficit in the third quarter. But in their first-ever game, the Valkyries went cold in the fourth quarter as they fell 84-67 in front of a sellout crowd of 18,064 at Chase Center.
Sparks point guard Kelsey Plum torched the Valkyries for 37 points while playing all 40 minutes on Friday night.
Still, the Valkyries set a tone that they hope continues for the rest of the season.
“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.”
Here are five takeaways from the game:
Turnovers shifted the game
The Sparks took advantage of sloppy play from the Valkyries throughout Friday’s game.
Golden State turned the ball over 21 times, resulting in 25 L.A. points.
Despite shooting the Valkyries back into the game, Julie Vanloo’s three fourth-quarter turnovers turned out to be costly for the Valkyries as they attempted to make a run in the final period. Vanloo ended the night with a team-high six turnovers while dishing out two assists.
“I’m going to think about the six turnovers I did because I’m a point guard,” Vanloo said. “I cannot have six turnovers and I know what I have to work on.”
All nine players who checked into the game for the Valkyries had at least one turnover. Aside from Vanloo, Tiffany Hayes (4), Carla Leite (3) and Monique Billings (2) had multiple turnovers.
Fagbenle shows range
Before Friday’s game, Temi Fagbenle had made just three 3-pointers in her four-year WNBA career. But in her first game with the Valkyries, Fagbenle has already shown she could be a stretch 5 in Nakase’s offense.
The 6-foot-4 center went 2 for 4 from deep and hit a plethora of midrange shots to keep the Sparks’ defense honest in the first half.
“She shoots all those threes (in practice) that she knows she’s going to get,” Nakase said. “A lot of the 5s will pull in. They’re just not used to guarding a 5 that’s out and stretched on the floor, so just credit to her hard work.”
Vanloo’s flurry ignites crowd
The Sparks seemingly had the game in complete control in the third quarter as they held onto a 15-point lead with three minutes left in the period.
But it was Vanloo who brought the Valkyries all the way back to make things competitive going into the fourth quarter. In a matter of a minute, Vanloo knocked down three consecutive 3s, the last of which was a step back with a defender in her face, to bring Golden State to within six going into the fourth quarter.
The crowd fed off Vanloo’s buckets, exploding with cheers as each shot went through the bottom of the net.
With Steve Kerr sitting courtside, the veteran point guard jokingly told the Golden State Warriors’ coach that she could fill in for Stephen Curry.
“The moment I saw Steve Kerr, I just got hyped,” Vanloo said. “I said ‘All right, let me show him something.’”
Vanloo came off the bench to score 14 points. Nakase said she liked Vanloo’s fearlessness during that moment.
“You’re going to get passion and the fans are going to get firsthand that type of action,” Nakase said. “I want her to be herself.”
Zone defense worked
In the second quarter, the Valkyries used a high-pressure 2-3 zone that seemed to bother the Sparks.
Golden State only used the tactic for a handful of possessions, but the strategy resulted in a forced turnover and no points scored by LA.
“We actually didn’t even practice the zone that much, so that was a positive I took away,” Nakase said. “You always want to keep teams off rhythm. … I just wanted to try it and see how it worked and it worked.”
Home-court advantage
While it was just the first game of the season, the Chase Center advantage was in full force.
The sellout crowd kept the energy going all night, even when the game was slipping away for the Valkyries.
“I had a lot of fun out there and I enjoyed the energy from the crowd,” Hayes said.
The Valkyries went all out to pay homage to the Bay Area in their first-ever game.
Oakland R&B artist Goapele sang the national anthem. Legendary Vallejo rapper E-40 performed some of his biggest hits during the halftime show. And Golden State Warriors players Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski were in attendance.
“It was loud,” Nakase said. “That’s exactly what I wanted. If I could have dreamed of an environment, the hostility of it, just the roars, the screams, the shouts…. That crowd, they’re going to support us regardless. So, yeah, I need to have that type of crowd. It’s just, it’s surreal.”
