SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden State Valkyries placed on a defensive masterclass towards famous person Caitlin Clark.
The growth crew held Clark to 11 factors and compelled the previous Iowa standout into six turnovers as Golden State defeated the Indiana Fever 88-77 on Thursday in entrance of its sixth straight sellout crowd of 18,064. Clark shot a career-worst 0-for-7 from past the arc.
Kayla Thornton led the Valkyries with 16 factors and 6 rebounds. Tiffany Hayes had 14 factors and Veronica Burton had 11. In her season debut, Chloe Bibby got here off the bench and scored 12 factors.
Golden State’s bench scored 45 factors.
“That’s what I was looking for. Maximum effort,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase mentioned. “Our first half wasn’t great and I had to get on them. … We just had to make some corrections and make some adjustments.”
Aliyah Boston had 17 factors and 12 rebounds for Indiana.
The Valkyries withstood a 10-0 run from the Fever within the third quarter to go down simply 4 going into the ultimate 10 minutes.
Within the fourth, the Valkyries offense got here alive as they outscored the Fever 33-18 within the ultimate interval. Golden State compelled Clark into deep 3-point jumpers and flustered the visiting crew with tenacious protection within the paint.
Regardless of not having family scorers just like the Fever, the Valkyries outpaced Indiana all through the fourth quarter to seal the win. Hayes scored eight factors within the interval and took on the project of guarding Clark. She held Clark to 4 factors on 1-of-4 taking pictures within the ultimate 10 minutes.
“We got a team full of dogs and we’re relentless,” Hayes mentioned. “We never give up from top to bottom. We looked to everybody on this team to contribute and that’s what we did today.”
The Valkyries opened the sport with a 7-2 run that jolted the group and prompted Fever appearing head coach Austin Kelly to name a timeout minutes into the primary quarter. However after the robust begin, the Valkyries went chilly as they missed their subsequent 13 pictures.
Clark’s scoring was held in verify for almost all of the primary half as she had simply two factors on 1-of-8 taking pictures from the sphere by means of the primary 20 minutes. Clark didn’t rating a basket till the 4:11 mark of the second quarter on a powerful drive to the rim. She discovered different methods to contribute, although, doling out six assists and grabbing 4 rebounds.
Golden State went down as a lot as 12 within the second quarter, however a gradual scoring quarter from backup middle Bibby saved the Valkyries inside putting distance. Bibby scored eight factors within the first half and made two 3-pointers.
A buzzer-beating 3 from Boston gave the Fever a 44-38 lead at halftime.
Golden State will play its subsequent 4 video games at house, together with Sunday’s sport towards the Connecticut Solar (5:30 p.m., KPIX+) at Chase Middle.
Initially Printed: June 19, 2025 at 9:10 PM PDT
