Janelle Salaun scored 22 points, making five 3-pointers, and grabbed a team-best seven rebounds as the Golden State Valkyries held off the host Seattle Storm 76-72 Friday night in a WNBA Commissioner’s Cup game.
Gabby Williams, who played the previous four seasons in Seattle, added 19 points for the Valkyries (8-5 overall, 3-2 Commissioner’s Cup). Teammates Tiffany Hayes scored 17 and Veronica Burton added 11 points and eight assists.
Natisha Hiedeman led Seattle (3-12, 0-6) with 26 points, including five 3-pointers. Dominique Malonga added nine points and eight rebounds for the Storm, which has lost eight straight games and is winless against Western Conference opponents (0-7).
The Storm held Golden State scoreless for the opening 5:35 of the fourth quarter, but they could manage only four points over that same stretch to cut the deficit to 66-57. Salaun’s 3-pointer snapped the Valkyries’ scoring slump and was the only field goal they made in the final period (1 of 16).
Malonga scored five points during an 8-0 Storm spurt that pulled them within 69-65 with 1:59 remaining. She made two free throws with 50 seconds left, after Salaun fouled out, to make it 71-70.
Hayes made two foul shots with 21 seconds to go to give Golden State a three-point lead.
Seattle’s Jade Melbourne converted a driving layup with 13 seconds left to make it 73-72.
After Williams made two free throws, Kiah Stokes blocked a potential tying 3-point attempt by Hiederman. Golden State’s Kaila Charles made a free throw with two seconds left for the final margin.
The Valkyries shot 36.4% from the field (24 of 66), including 8 of 37 from 3-point range. The Storm shot 37.9% (25 of 66) and were 10 of 23 from distance.
Malonga made her first basket of the game, a reverse layup, to tie it at 40-40 early in the third. A Salaun 3-pointer was answered by a Flau’jae Johnson jumper before Golden State went on a 16-2 run that included four layups by Williams and another Salaun trey as the Valkyries seemingly pulled away. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Hiedeman got the Storm within 59-50, but a 7-1 Golden State run helped extend the margin to 66-53 by the end of the quarter.
Salaun made a step-back jumper from the left side of the lane with 3 seconds remaining in the second quarter to give the Valkyries a 40-38 lead at the intermission.
The Storm used a 15-2 run to take an 18-7 lead in the opening quarter. Golden State responded with a 9-0 stretch and pulled even at 21-all by the end of the first on a 3-pointer by Salaun with 34 seconds left.
–Field Level Media
