NFL
By: Ashmere Prasad
The Valkyries won their fourth straight game on Tuesday evening, defeating the former champs, the New York Liberty, 66-58 in a competitive contest. Temi Fágbénlé led the team with 16 points and five rebounds in her 38 minutes.
Fágbénlé and Kate Martin were all smiles in their postgame press conference, joking around as if they were hosting a livestream podcast episode.
“It’s really great to be on this team,” Fágbénlé said. “Anyone can go off. We are so supportive of each other, of whoever goes off. It’s not like, oh, I didn’t go off today, but we won. Are you kidding? This is the best thing ever. It doesn’t matter who steps up; we won the game. It’s like we all give each other that support, that energy, the happiness, the positivity.”
Natasha Cloud opened the game with eight points, but Golden State stayed close and strung together back-to-back defensive stops. At the end of the first quarter, the Valkyries were down 18-14. Monique Billings scored five points to start the second, which led the Valkyries to go on a 27-3 run. Billings made her return last night after missing 15 games with an ankle injury.
Golden State held the Liberty to eight points in the second quarter, which is tied for the fewest points from a Valkyries’ opponent all season. ( San Francisco Chronicle) The Valkyries’ defense was in sync and held Breanna Stewart to two points in the half and the Liberty to 32% shooting.
Third Quarter Woes
The Valkyries led 40-26 entering the third quarter and played a clean first half of basketball, committing five turnovers. Coming out of halftime, the physicality from the Liberty forced the Valkyries to rack up turnovers, wrapping up the quarter with seven.
The Liberty cut the lead to 12 late in the third but were unable to get shots to fall in the fourth – nine of their 14 points were from free throws.
From the beginning of the season, head coach Natalie Nakase has strived for the Valkyries to be the best defensive team in the league. On Tuesday, Golden State played lights out against the former champs, holding them to 18-57 on shooting (31.6%). The Valkyries are currently third in the league with a defensive rating of 99.7, immediately following the Lynx and Dream, who have both clinched a spot in the playoffs.
“I think our communication has been elite over the last three games,” Nakase said. “I think when we’re communicating and we’re extending the game plan, we’re pretty dangerous, so credit to the coaching staff.”
Regardless of the loss, the Liberty clinched a spot in the playoffs thanks to the Mercury defeating Indiana on Tuesday evening. The sixth-seed Valkyries are two days away from locking in their spot and have dropped their magic number to clinch a playoff to two.
Golden State faces the last-place Dallas Wings on Thursday for its fourth game in six days. If they win and the Los Angeles Sparks lose to Atlanta on Wednesday evening, Golden State can clinch a playoff spot. They currently have a 2.5-game advantage above the final seed.
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