Valkyries win four straight on the road to start July
Golden State is the hottest team in the WNBA.
Written By: Danny Williams
Twitter: danny_w22
On the back of star forward Gabby Williams earning her first All-Star Starter nod, the Golden State Valkyries (17-7) ripped off four consecutive victories to start July and are now tied for the best record in the league with Las Vegas and Minnesota. In total, they’ve won seven games in a row.
On July 4, Golden State completed the season sweep of the Atlanta Dream, parlaying a late 8-0 run into the 88-83 victory in Atlanta. Williams finished 19 points (7-14 FG) and added three steals while Veronica Burton poured in 21 points (6-9 FG) to lead the team. Janelle Salaün provided a spark off the bench with 14 points. Golden State drilled 13 threes to Atlanta’s eight and held the Dream to just 39.4% shooting from the field (26-66 FG).
Two days later, Golden State headed to the nation’s capital and pulled out a grimy 62-49 victory over the Mystics. Kaitlyn Chen was the only Valkyries player to score in double-figures, scoring 14 points (6-9 FG). Golden State shot just 35% from the field (26-74 FG) and 17.6% from three (6-34 FG), but still managed to out-shoot the Mystics in both categories (30% 18-60 FG) and (12.5% 3-24 FG). The major difference in this one was the turnovers. Golden State forced 14 Washington turnovers and only committed five infractions of its own.
The next stop on the road trip was across the border in Toronto against the Tempo. In the 83-75 win, the Valkyries received major contributions from their bench. Salaün scored a game-high 26 points (7-10 FG), and Chen added 16 points (8-12) as well. Golden State outscored Toronto 52-20 off the bench. Kayla Thornton was the only starter for Golden State who scored in double-figures with 15 points (4-6 FG) and hauled in a team-high nine rebounds. The Valkyries held Tempo’s all-star Marina Mabrey to just 11 points (2-9 FG) and forced her into five turnovers.
Golden State capped off the winning streak with a blowout victory over the Connecticut Sun, 79-64. In the game, Golden State carried a 22-point lead after a 49-point eruption in the second half. Burton led the way for the Valkyries with 17 points (7-12 FG) and a team-high six assists. Salaün provided another stellar performance off the bench with 16 points (5-11 FG) and seven rebounds. Golden State shot tremendously in the victory, 51.7% (31-60 FG) from the field and 44.4% (8-18 FG) from long distance.
The Valkyries cap off the five-game road trip with a test against the Indiana Fever (13-9) on July 15. The game will tip at 5 p.m. and be aired on the USA Network.
Notes:
Subscribers of Storm Chasers will receive The Short Corner content as well. If you don’t want to receive the additional wider WNBA coverage, you can turn it off.
How can readers unsubscribe from a section?
They can edit this by doing the following:
Log into their Substack account, head to their account Settings, select their subscription, and choose which newsletters to receive.
Social Media:
X/Twitter: (WNBAShortCorner)
Threads/Instagram: (WNBAShortCorner)
Bluesky: wnbashortcorner.bsky.social