Gabby Williams gave Golden State the lead for good on two free throws with 1:18 remaining, then capped a 26-point performance with two clinching foul shots in the final seconds, and the Valkyries outlasted the Atlanta Dream 68-64 in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Saturday afternoon in San Francisco.
Game 2 in the best-of-7 is slated for Monday night, also on the Valkyries’ home court in California.
In a defensive struggle in which they scored just nine points in the third quarter, the second-seeded Valkyries found themselves behind 64-61 after Rhyne Howard dropped in a pair of free throws for the Dream with 3:12 remaining.
But Atlanta didn’t score again, missing its last six shots, leaving the door open for a Golden State comeback.
The Valkyries also went without a field goal down the stretch, but free throws made the difference. Two by Williams with 2:15 to go set up her go-ahead pair, which came as a result of a dash down the court after rebounding an Allisha Gray miss, drawing an open-court foul on Angel Reese.
After misses by Howard and Gray sandwiched a Kiah Stokes free throw that increased the Golden State lead to two, the Dream were forced to foul Williams again with 4.1 seconds left. She connected on both, finishing 7-for-8 at the line and sending the Dream to their first postseason loss this year.
Stokes finished with nine points, seven rebounds and four blocks for Golden State, which held Atlanta to 32.8 percent shooting overall and 4-for-25 on 3-pointers.
Returning from a ring-finger injury on her left (shooting) hand, Gray topped Atlanta with 19 points despite shooting just 5-for-19. Reese notched a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, and Howard managed 12 points on a 3-for-14 afternoon.
Golden State, which swept Atlanta 3-0 in the regular season, won despite shooting just 32.1 percent. The Dream, up 56-51 after three periods, added just eight points over the final 10 minutes.
Benefitting from Golden State’s 1-for-11 shooting on 3-pointers in the first quarter, the Dream led by as many as nine points in the first half before the Valkyries’ Williams flipped the script.
Scoreless in the first period as the hosts put up just 14 points, Williams went for 16 points in the second quarter, including 12 in a half-closing run over 6:49 that turned a 29-20 deficit into a 42-39 Golden State lead at the break.
Reese had all 14 of her points and six of her 12 rebounds in the half.
–Field Level Media
