NFL
By: Ashmere Prasad
San Francisco – The Atlanta Dream knew they had a handful of adjustments to make after their blowout loss to Golden State 48 hours ago. Those adjustments held up, until the final three minutes where Gabby Williams took over on both ends of the floor. Williams scored 13 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, grabbed crucial rebounds and forced one turnover.
Williams admitted she was a little tired to start, and said the team handled business while she rested. “I didn’t have it in the first and they held it down for me so I was nice and fresh in the fourth, and that’s the beauty of this team.”
Atlanta led for 55% of the the game on Friday night, and forced Golden State to commit 11 turnovers in the first half. Unusual for a team that averages 11 turnovers a game. The three ball wasn’t flying like it did a few nights ago, the team was 5-of-22. The Valkyries leaned heavily on their defense in the second half and in the fourth quarter; once they had a lead it was all about taking care of the ball.
“The fourth quarter for us finished really strong. We have to give credit to our second unit for making great strides. Kaitlyn Chen came in and hit 13 [points]. Tip [Tiffany] Hayes, phenomenal composure. Same thing as Gabby [Williams], just letting us know what she sees, how she wants to close. Because she made phenomenal decisions in the pick-and-roll. When they blitzed, she gave it to Kiah [Stokes]. When they were in coverage, she was able to attack downhill. Our bench was phenomenal.”
Stokes ended the game with season-high seven blocks, four of them in the first quarter. Stokes fouled out 26.4 seconds remaining in the game, but at that point the bulk of her workload was complete.
Pride Night Shoutout
Friday’s game was also Pride Night at Ballhalla and at the end of the game Williams yelled into the camera “For the gays!” Which led the fans to shout and cheer with excitement. Williams said Pride Night is personal for her. “The Bay Area has historically been a pioneer for the Pride movement, so I wanted to get it for the Bay.”
Next up, Golden State Valkyries face a New York Liberty team coming off a tough loss to the Seattle Storm. The last time they faced the Liberty the Valkyries started off strong and ended the game with a win.
