Riding the momentum of a winning road trip, the expansion Golden State Valkyries tip off a three-game homestand in a revenge matchup with the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday night in San Francisco.
The Valkyries had won three consecutive games on the trip and moved ahead of the Aces in the WNBA standings before going bust in Las Vegas on Sunday, wrapping up a five-game road swing with a 101-77 thrashing.
The outcome left the Aces seventh and Valkyries eighth and in the last two playoff positions in the standings. Golden State can regain the seventh spot with a victory Wednesday.
The home team has won all three previous games in the season series, with the Golden State’s defense dominating a 95-68 win in June before Las Vegas scored in triple figures during two subsequent matchups.
A’ja Wilson had a 14-point, 14-rebound double-double Sunday and Jackie Young put up 20 points to go with eight assists. But the driving force in Sunday’s rout was Jewell Loyd, who drilled seven of her 11 attempts from 3-point range to score a game-high 27 points off the bench.
The Aces have won three of their past four games and are 6-3 dating back to a victory over the Valkyries on July 12.
“When you’re playing a young team that’s moving and grooving like the Valkyries, you gotta be on your P’s and Q’s because they will just pick you apart,” Wilson told reporters. “We (said), ‘Let’s try to slow down their pace.’ But that doesn’t mean we have to slow down as well.”
The Aces limited the Valkyries to 34.2 percent shooting overall and 10 of 34 (29.4 percent) from 3-point range Sunday.
Having already lost star Kayla Thornton to a season-ending knee injury before the trip, the Valkyries also went without Tiffany Hayes (sore left leg) and Cecilia Zandalasini (sore left foot) in Las Vegas. The latter two are expected to return during Golden State’s homestand, perhaps as early as Wednesday.
The season remains a learning experience, insists newcomer Iliana Rupert, who joined the club from France on July 25 and has made an ever-increasing impact. Her contributions were highlighted by season highs in points (17) and rebounds (eight) against the Aces.
“I think we can really be focused on the fact that when we stick together, when we defend together, we are in a good position to win the game,” Rupert said after the 3-2 trip. “I think we really need to defend (in order) to attack and make those shots. We need to be focused on that.”
–Field Level Media
