NFL
By: Ashmere Prasad
On a night where the Valkyries were missing their key big Kiah Stokes, and offensive weapon Janelle Salaun, Tiffany Hayes filled the gaps.
Hayes is known for driving into the paint, hitting tough shots, and generating foul calls. Tonight she was all that and more. Hayes was all over the floor; forcing turnovers and fighting through multiple defenders for layups. She created that offensive spark in the second and third quarters that helped the Valkyries get ahead and eventually generate a lead in their 91-71 win.
On one play she rebounded her own layup, was hit in the face and tossed up a tough bucket that went in. Everyone’s jaws dropped and the crowd of course, went wild. She closed out the game with a season-high 22 points and 5-7 from the free throw line.
“It’s almost like we can’t take her out,” Natalie Nakase said. “She empties the tank. She utilizes her minutes when she’s out there. She’s always ready to play and always going to go completely all out.”
The first quarter was an adjustment for Golden State without Stokes. The Sky scored half of their points in the paint and drove to the hoop too easily on multiple occasions. Nakase took the blame for the initial game plan and not executing it properly, but of course Golden State made the proper adjustments before halftime.
After every absurd layup, Hayes looked back at the bench and celebrated – which is typical behavior for Golden State. But these reactions were a little different because Hayes was reacting to things she learned this week. “We work on these things in practice and I was doing some of those things in the game, so I was happily looking over at our coach,” Hayes explained.
When Nakase was giving Hayes her flowers postgame, she also talked about this weeks practice. She celebrated how Hayes was able to implement the new moves so quickly. “She’s a veteran but she’s continuing to learn to play in the paint, rim reads, and it carried over. It’s just really impressive to see someone – a veteran like Tip – wanting to learn and execute for her teammates.”
The Valkyries have a longer break before their next matchup on Monday against the Wings. They’re taking the next two days off from practice and resuming over the weekend.
