Gabby Williams scored eight points in overtime as the Golden State Valkyries completed a three-game sweep of the defending champion Las Vegas Aces with an 87-77 road victory on Friday, advancing to the WNBA Finals in their second year as an expansion franchise.
After a Golden State run in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter forced OT, the Valkyries outscored the Aces 16-6 in the extra period to secure the series in convincing fashion.
“Obviously it feels good, especially to beat the defending champs,” Golden State’s Kiah Stokes said. “They’re a team that can get hot real quick, and I think we didn’t want this to go to Game 4, Game 5, because like I said, they’re defending champs. They’ve been in this position, you don’t really want to give them any life.”
The second-seeded Valkyries move on to face the fourth-seeded Atlanta Dream, who clinched a Finals berth with a sweep-sealing 85-83 road win over the New York Liberty on Friday. Game 1 of the Finals is scheduled for Oct. 17 in San Francisco.
Trailing 69-63, the Valkyries broke off a timely 8-0 spree and took a 71-69 lead on a bucket from Veronica Burton with 1:12 remaining in regulation.
Las Vegas’ Jackie Young tied the game at 71 on a Chelsea Gray-assisted lay-in with 26.6 seconds left. After Williams misfired on a layup attempt with five seconds remaining, Gray’s 15-foot shot at the buzzer just barely rimmed out.
The Valkyries opened overtime with a 12-2 run that featured eight points from Williams, establishing an 83-73 lead with 46.9 seconds to go.
Kayla Thornton paced the Valkyries with 18 points while grabbing nine rebounds, making 5 of 12 attempts from the field and hitting 6 of 7 from the free-throw line. Williams chipped in 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting, while Hayes and Stokes each added 11 points.
Stokes shot 5-for-5 from the field while grabbing 10 rebounds and playing effective defense against Aces star A’ja Wilson.
“I can get emotional talking about (Kiah),” Williams said. “Honestly, she’s just someone that is so appreciated by us. Everything she does, she just knows how to win. There’s a reason she’s a three-time champion. I’ve said it a million times. … Offensively, the way she sets screens, the way she moves without the ball, the way she gets all these offensive boards and extra possessions. Defense, I don’t think I have to say anything. We know who she is.”
Wilson, who won her record fifth WNBA Most Valuable Player award this week, led the Aces with 21 points and 10 rebounds. However, she shot just 6-for-19 from the floor. Young chipped in 18 points on a similarly inefficient 6-of-16 shooting from the field, while Gray added 17 points and a team-high five assists. Gray also committed a game-high six turnovers.
“If you want to win championships, you need to be a top-three, top-four defense, and we weren’t this year,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “We weren’t. We had moments where we were pretty good, but we weren’t good enough to be at a championship level. You got to be clicking on all cylinders on both ends, and we were not.”
–Field Level Media
