The Seattle Storm will seek a measure of revenge against the only team that has beaten them twice this season when the Golden State Valkyries visit on Wednesday afternoon to close out the WNBA’s first half.
Seattle (13-9) sits in third place in the Western Conference, no thanks to 76-70 and 84-57 road losses to the expansion Valkyries. Despite the twin successes, Golden State (10-11) remains 2 1/2 games behind the Storm in the West.
Seattle has won three of five since its most recent loss to the Valkyries on June 29. But as was the case when Golden State blitzed them 23-14 in the first quarter, a slow start led to a disappointing 74-69 home loss to the Washington Mystics in the Storm’s most recent game on Sunday.
Seattle scored just 10 points in the opening 10 minutes against the Mystics, a trend that Seattle coach Noelle Quinn says her team must correct against the troublesome Valkyries.
“It’s going to start with our preparation,” Quinn said after Sunday’s loss. “There’s no way we think that we can come into games and not have the right amount of energy to play these teams who are younger in a physical game and present a lot of matchup difficulties.
“The Valkyries have our number, and my team knows that. The effort that we showed (Sunday), we cannot show on Wednesday.”
Another issue against the Valkyries has been the play of 10-time All-Star center Nneka Ogwumike, the former Stanford star who shot just 5-for-16 and totaled just 14 points in her two Bay Area homecomings.
The Valkyries, meanwhile, have countered with balanced attacks that have featured double-figure scoring from seven different players. All-Star Kayla Thornton had 22 points in the first meeting, while Tiffany Hayes led the way in the rematch with 21.
Golden State also is coming off a home loss — 78-77 against the Phoenix Mercury — when a dramatic late flurry came within one second of forcing overtime against the West’s second-place team.
“The execution down the stretch, the fight, how hard we played … I couldn’t have asked for a better game. I really believe that,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said. “Felt like we did the right things in a very crunch-time moment. That type of execution down the stretch was great.
“Just losing off of a free throw (by Alyssa Thomas with one second left), that to me hurts.”
–Field Level Media
