The Golden State Valkyries name their house flooring “Ballhalla,” a spot of glory and triumph.
For all they’ve completed of their enlargement season, Valkyries have but to determine how one can take “Ballhalla” on the highway.
The Atlanta Dream used a 12-0 run within the fourth quarter to take command en path to a 90-81 win Monday night time over Golden State at Gateway Heart. The Dream outscored the Valkyries 26-13 within the fourth quarter.
The Valkyries fall to 9-9 and are 2-6 on the highway versus 7-3 at Chase Heart. Each highway wins got here in Los Angeles in opposition to the Sparks, which means they’ve but to win a WNBA recreation out of the state of California.
Golden State was coming of a loss in Minnesota in a recreation through which they have been additionally aggressive, solely to let issues get away late.
Atlanta, which obtained 24 factors from All-Star Allisha Grey, improved to 12-8.
Turnovers helped doom the Valkyries, who had 21 in all in a recreation and 7 within the final 5 minutes. They led by as a lot as 12 factors within the first half. Atlanta scored 27 factors off turnovers.
“We’re not going to win any game with 21 turnovers,” All-Star ahead Kayla Thornton mentioned. “We’ve got to go back into the books, sit down together, re-evaluate each other, re-evaluate ourselves and figure out what we have to do. We have two big games coming up to finish this road trip.”
Ahead Monique Billings led Golden State with 19 factors, with Thornton scoring 15 and Tiffany Hayes 12. For Atlanta, Naz Hillman had 16 factors and Brionna Jones 14.
Billings resisted blaming the venue.
“I don’t know if the road has anything to do with it,” Billings mentioned. “I think it’s just about us being consistent. We started out great, threw the first punch and that’s a really good team. Credit to them. It comes down to us being consistent, building off the losses and learning from them.”
Golden State constructed its early lead with the assistance of 3-pointers, hitting its first 5 in a row. For the remainder of the night time, they have been 6-for-26 on 3-point makes an attempt.
In a recreation the place the groups appeared fairly equal when it comes to physicality, Atlanta had 24 free throws (making 21) whereas Golden State had simply 9, making all of them.
“They get 15 more free throws, and we lost the game by nine,” coach Natalie Nakase mentioned. “I get it. Home cooking. But to me, I thought for sure we were going up just as aggressive as their players and we just did not get the whistle. I’m going to keep fighting for my players, and 24-to-9 is just too much for me.”
Ahead Monique Billings rises for a shot Monday night time for the Golden State Valkyries in opposition to the Atlanta Dream. Getty Pictures
The Valkyries took a 68-64 lead on a comply with shot by Billings off a missed 3-point try from Kate Martin as time was working out within the third quarter.
After main the primary quarter by 10 factors, the Valkyries started to misfire from 3-point vary and the Dream climbed again into the sport. Atlanta even led by as a lot as 43-37 after a step-back 3-pointer by Grey with 2:08 left within the half.
Golden State, nonetheless, closed with an 8-0 run that included 3-pointers by Thornton and Hayes and led 45-43 at halftime.
The Valkyries hit 17 of 32 first-half photographs (53.1 %) to 43.8 % for the Dream (14-for-32), however Atlanta scored 14 factors off 11 Golden State turnovers.
Billings, inserted into the beginning lineup, led the Valkyries with 11 factors in 11 minutes within the opening half. Grey had 16 and Brittney Griner 10 for Atlanta.
The Valkyries led 26-16 after the primary quarter as Veronica Burton hit all three of her long-distance makes an attempt for 9 factors. Billings had eight within the first quarter and made her solely 3-pointer.
In distinction to its earlier loss to Minnesota, the place Golden State gave up 25 factors within the first quarter, the Dream have been restricted to 6-for-17 (35.7 %) capturing within the opening quarter. Atlanta’s Grey had 9 factors within the quarter.
Kudos for Okay.T.
Nakase was joyful for Thornton, a 10-year veteran, in changing into the primary participant in franchise historical past to be named as a WNBA All-Star choice.
“I actually got chills when I found out,” Nakase informed reporters in her pregame press briefing. “Especially with K.T., we weren’t aiming for that. It wasn’t a goal. It was, `let’s be authentically you and what I loved about K.T. is, she kept hitting almost game winners, and she said I’m just wanting to show up and be myself. It was the same answer over and over again . . . she’s always guarding the top player, closing games. It’s huge.”
It was Thornton’s first All-Star choice.
Initially Revealed: July 7, 2025 at 6:34 PM PDT
