NFL
By Ashmere Prasad
Valkyries fans were loud and excited to be back at Ballhalla on Saturday afternoon. The schedule said it was a preseason matchup. However, the fans were booing the referees as if it were a playoff elimination game.
Each quarter varied. Some strengths and weaknesses ultimately led the Valkyries to remain perfect in the preseason and defeat the Seattle Storm, 78-76.
After 238 days, Thornton returned to the floor for the first time since her injury after the All-Star break. Thornton played as if she hadn’t missed a beat, which is characteristic of her. She hustled on both ends of the floor and at one point, scored a layup on a fast break. She fell to the floor but immediately got back on her feet.
Things got away from Golden State in the second quarter. After a tough stretch of poor shots, Thornton hit a triple to close out the half, and the Valkyries trailed 42-33.
Golden State opened the third quarter with a 10-0 run and regained the lead, but Dominique Malonga hit a triple to retake it. Miela Sowah closed the third with a much-needed three-point jumper, followed by three more to open the fourth. Sowah hit four triples in a row under three minutes (if I am counting correctly), and Ballhalla nearly blew its top off when she hit the fourth.
“I think my teammates found me at the right time, and I think my job is to knock it down. I was glad I could do that for them,” Sowah said postgame. “I heard Balhalla was really loud, and my gosh, it was loud and super fun.”
Kaitlyn Chen closed the game with 28 minutes, 11 points, two rebounds, and three assists. Chen led the second unit in the second half and showed some improvements in her game. She had a nasty fast-break euro-step that had everyone in the media section do a double-take.
Someone on the roster has to hold the second unit for the Burton-less minutes, and Chen did a great job highlighting her strengths in her preseason audition.
“You could see her leadership got louder, her determination,” head coach Natalie Nakase said. “I let her call what she wanted, because I suggested something and she said ‘no.’ Her confidence grew at that point.”
The Valkyries have two weeks of training camp until their first regular-season matchup on May 8th, where they face the Storm again. Nakase said the team did not play their best, but now they have the chance to reflect and work on certain things to make everyone better.
“How we work out in the next two weeks, I could be really creative,” Nakase said. “I could create any type of chaos that I want,” she said, chuckling. “The creativity of my staff, this is where we really get to push some buttons.”
