The Valkyries earned one in all their greatest wins of the season on Tuesday when Cecilia Zandalasini hit a game-winning shot with three seconds left to carry off a livid Atlanta Dream comeback on the highway.
The 2 groups went tit-for-tat within the fourth quarter and gave the followers at Atlanta’s Gateway Heart Enviornment among the best video games of the season.
Nevertheless, that was not the new matter of debate on social media following the conclusion of Tuesday’s sport.
With the 2 groups tied at 75, the Valkyries had the ball with below a minute to go within the fourth quarter. As Golden State tried to discover a clear have a look at the basket, a shiny inexperienced intercourse toy was thrown onto the court docket.
The sport didn’t cease for just a few seconds because the referees determined to play out the remainder of the possession. Moments later, throughout a lifeless ball, officers within the enviornment stopped play and a police officer picked up the item.
The play took on a lifetime of its personal as clips of the incident went viral on social media after the sport. Nevertheless, Valkyries gamers and coach Natalie Nakase pointed to the incident as a participant security challenge.
“First of all, it was super dangerous,” Zandalasini mentioned after the sport. “When we found out what it was, I guess we started laughing. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
The item was thrown within the course of Veronica Burton as she had the ball and was coming off a display screen. The intercourse toy bounced close to the free-throw line and ended up someplace on the left sideline.
In response to Meghan L. Corridor of USA In the present day, who was at Tuesday’s sport, police took the item out in a plastic bag and coated it with a towel. As of Tuesday night, there have been no experiences of any followers being arrested or kicked out for the incident, and Corridor mentioned in a X submit on the social media platform X, previously generally known as Twitter that she noticed police investigating however didn’t see anybody being escorted out.
Neither the Atlanta Dream nor the WNBA responded to requests for touch upon the incident on Tuesday evening.
The play didn’t have a lot bearing on the result, however Valkyries gamers had been visibly upset within the second because the incident got here throughout a vital time within the sport.
“One of our players almost got hit with it, so yeah, that’s very dangerous,” Hayes mentioned after the sport.
Valkyries shade commentator Morgan Ragan took exception with the officiating crew permitting play to proceed even after the item was thrown onto the court docket.
“As a player, you want to feel protected. You don’t know what’s going on and then there’s confusion on that final possession,” Ragan mentioned on the KPIX+ broadcast.
Nakase echoed Ragan’s sentiment as she believed a timeout ought to have been referred to as as soon as the item was thrown onto the court docket.
“I thought that would have been an automatic timeout. Let’s reset. Let’s make sure everyone’s OK. You don’t want the object on the ground and then someone is dribbling past it,” Nakase mentioned.
Initially Printed: July 29, 2025 at 9:31 PM PDT
