NFL
By: Ashmere Prasad
June 15 – San Francisco,
The Valkyries were behind the Storm for the first eight minutes in the first quarter. When the teams were tied at 13, Carla Leite hit a layup with 2:18 left in the first quarter and Golden State never trailed again. The Valkyries (5-5) have now won three straight games with their victory on Saturday, defeating the Seattle Storm 76-70. Golden State’s defensive scheme combined with 46 points in the paint and 33 rebounds made life hard for Seattle.
The Valkyries went on a 12-2 run and from there the Storm couldn’t weather their offensive rhythm.
This is the first game with Golden State’s new rotation. Leite earned a starting role and was a major impact player in the paint. After her two three-point shot attempts in the first did not fall, she relied on her speed and strength to push through the defense and score under the basket.
The Valkyries may be smaller in size but they dominated on the glass Saturday evening. In the first quarter, the team tallied 12 rebounds, four of them offensive. They wrapped up the night with 33 to the Storm’s 20.
Golden State relied on the 2-3 zone defensively to prevent Nneka Ogwumike from taking over under the basket, and it worked. They held her to only six shots on the night. At one point during the third quarter, Skylar Diggins was the only player to reach double-digits in scoring. Seattle forward Alysha Clark explained how Golden State’s zone was a problem and it forced the Storm to be ‘stagnant and second guess their next move.’
“There’s some frustration. A lot of the stuff we were doing tonight wasn’t characteristic. We got stagnant and we had 16 turnovers. You know Nat is a scrappy person, so that’s how her team plays. When you’re doing that against them they’re being aggressive, it’s gonna always favor the team that’s more aggressive.”
Temi Fágbénlé was phenomenal on both ends of the floor. Her presence under the basket will be a tremendous loss in the upcoming weeks as she is expected to participate in the Eurobasket tournament with Great Britain.
Fágbénlé forced stops, caught her own rebounds, and answered with a layup, she put pressure on their bigs – she was a key component to the Valkyries victory.
During the non-Fágbénlé minutes, Seattle went on a 12-3 run in the fourth quarter and cut the lead to seven. Thornton answered with a much-needed clutch three-pointer that helped the Valkyries to close the game out.
Golden State, or rather Kayla Thornton was 3-of-18 from the three. She scored during critical times when the Valkyries needed an energy boost. It feels like she is slowly becoming their clutch shot-maker.
When asked about what the Valkyries culture is this far in the season, Fágbénlé highlighted the team as a whole. “We’re a team of six women. We come from different teams around the league we know what it takes to be great teammates, so whoever leaves, it’s gonna be fine. Someone is always gonna step up. Whenever we stick together we’re unstoppable. That’s our superpower.”
Saturday was Golden State’s fifth straight sold-out game this season. The Valkyries have a tough stretch of games ahead of them. They play six games over the next two weeks and will face the Storm again to close out the month.
Next up the Valkyries will travel to Dallas to play their first game against Paige Bueckers and the Wings (1-11).
