Veronica Burton collected a season-best 25 points, six rebounds and a career-high five blocks and the Golden State Valkyries hung on to beat the Indiana Fever 90-88 on Thursday in San Francisco.
Gabby Williams tallied 19 points, six boards, six assists and three steals while Janelle Salaun added 19 points and seven rebounds off the bench for the Valkyries (5-2), who set a franchise record with 11 blocked shots, five coming in the fourth quarter alone.
Caitlin Clark and Raven Johnson scored 16 points apiece to guide the Fever (4-3) as their three-game winning streak ended. Clark also had six assists and three steals, but she committed five turnovers. Kelsey Mitchell netted 14 points and Aliyah Boston had 13 with six boards.
Burton was especially in control in the fourth quarter, when she got to the rim for a tiebreaking layup, blocked a Fever layup attempt and made a runner for a 73-69 Valkyries lead with 7:37 to go. Williams stole a pass from Clark and Burton blocked a Clark shot on the next two Indiana possessions.
The Fever weren’t fazed. Clark made her second and final 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one inside four minutes, and Boston’s turnaround in the post went down for an 82-81 Indiana lead.
The teams traded one-point leads until Salaun knocked down a baseline jumper to make it 87-84 with 1:48 left. Clark committed two turnovers and missed a triple over Indiana’s next three possessions, and Salaun’s fastbreak layup made it a five-point game with 31.3 seconds left.
Up by three with 17 seconds left, the Valkyries let Sophie Cunningham (11 points) drive for a layup, and Williams made 1 of 2 foul shots at the other end. The Fever missed two shots in the last three seconds, the second on an inbounds play out of a timeout.
Golden State was ahead for most of the first half, including a pair of 11-point leads in the second quarter.
Clark guided the Fever back with six points and four assists in the period. Her pinpoint pass halfway up the court to Cunningham led to a fastbreak layup and gave Clark her 500th career assist, the fastest to that milestone in WNBA history.
That cut the Fever’s gap to 37-32, and during the final minute Mitchell tied the game with a driving layup and hit a floater for a brief 44-42 lead. Burton sank two free throws with 3.1 seconds left to tie it going into halftime.
–Field Level Media
