Photo Credit: Golden State Valkyries/Instagram
By: Jennifer Portee
Veronica Burton had gone the entire night without making a basket. With Golden State’s lead gone and Las Vegas threatening to steal Game 2, Gabby Williams still put the ball in her hands.
Burton deep 3-pointer with 41 seconds remaining pushed the Valkyries ahead, and two late free throws helped finish an 83-81 win Wednesday night. Golden State now holds a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five semifinal series, leaving the defending champion Aces one loss from elimination.
“I think I held my breath the whole time the ball was in the air,” Tiffany Hayes said.
Understandable. The Valkyries had watched an 11-point fourth-quarter lead disappear, and Las Vegas had finally found the offense that was missing earlier. Burton’s only made field goal stopped that comeback just short.
She didn’t hesitate when the opportunity came back around.
“I appreciated Gabby trusting me in that moment, obviously a big moment,” Burton said. “We trust her with the ball in her hands as well and so for her to pass it up to me not just once in that possession but twice … the second one I knew that had to go up.”
It was a different ending for Burton than in Sunday’s 71-60 Game 1 win, when she went to the bench with 7:29 left in the third quarter and never returned. This time, she had the ball with the game on the line.
Hayes led Golden State with 21 points against her former team. Williams added 20 points and five rebounds, and Kayla Thornton scored 16. That production gave the Valkyries enough room to withstand a late push led by A’ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray.
Enough room, barely.
Golden State entered the fourth quarter ahead 66-55. Gray’s jumper with 4:46 remaining cut the margin to 73-68, and Dana Evans followed with a 3-pointer that brought Las Vegas within 74-71. When Gray buried a tying 3 with 2:10 left, Just like that, Golden State’s lead was gone.
A Las Vegas shot-clock violation gave Golden State possession with 1:01 remaining. Burton delivered on the next trip.
“That Burton 3 was massive,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “We battled back and gave ourselves a shot after a really abysmal first half.”
Even then, Golden State had to survive one more scramble. With six seconds left, Jackie Young missed the second of two free throws. Gray grabbed the rebound and drove underneath the basket for a layup attempt, but Kiah Stokes blocked it. Burton secured the ball, ending the Aces’ last chance.
Wilson finished with 24 points on 9-for-16 shooting and seven rebounds. Las Vegas got back into the game, but the comeback couldn’t undo the cost of playing from behind.
For Hayes, the win carried some extra weight. A left knee injury kept her out of Golden State’s inaugural postseason appearance last year. Now she is helping drive a deeper run, with her former team standing between the Valkyries and the Finals.
“It felt amazing to be able to go out there and get a win with the team that I’m with now,” Hayes said.
Golden State became the first expansion team in WNBA history to reach the playoffs in its debut season. In Year 2, it has a chance to go much further.
The series shifts to Las Vegas for Game 3 on Friday. Hammon had stressed the importance of leaving Golden State with a split. Instead, the Aces return home needing three consecutive wins to keep their title defense alive.
“I can’t convince them that this is not a must-win, because if we lose we go home, and we stay home,” Hammon said. “The goal is to get one quarter at a time and we’ve got to string it together. We know we’re capable of stringing three in a row.”