Golden State 81, Las Vegas 91
By the Numbers
- The Valkyries posted their 29th consecutive sellout with 18,064 fans.
- Gabby Williams led the Valkyries in scoring with a season-high 20 points and four rebounds.
- Janelle Salaün reached 500 career points on a first quarter jumper, and finished with 16 points and four rebounds to go with two steals.
- Cecilia Zandalisini scored a season-high nine points.
- Kayla Thornton had 12 points on four made threes.
- Justé Jocyté scored five points, going 1-1 from three point range. The guard is 3-4 (75 percent) from three this season.
- Golden State trailed by as much as 24 in the contest and cut it to 10 in the closing minutes behind an 18-6 run.
Quotes
HEAD COACH NATALIE NAKASE:
ON KAYLA THORNTON’S PERFORMANCE:
“What was great with KT [Kayla Thornton] is that she maintained her space. We got our spacing a little bit too tight, and I think that's why we had a couple more turnovers than we needed to. So credit to KT for making that space and just staying confident. There were points where I wanted to make sure that we got fresh bodies in, but I didn't even want to take KT out today, and her leadership on the floor was like, come on, come on, come on, keep fighting. So just credit to KT.”
ON THE ADJUSTMENTS NEEDED:
“It starts with my leadership, and what I'm saying to them. It's how I'm correcting them. So it starts with me. I got to correct my message. I got to deliver better. I have to be better, because they're only going to go based off of the messages that I'm sending.”
ON WHAT WORKED IN THE FINAL MINUTES:
“Their fight. We picked up, we ran, we jumped. It took Vegas out of their rhythm, because we're pressing them, so with that pressing it makes them force into a different action. We got an extra couple possessions out of it, and then that gave off transition offense, and it led to some easy shots, so our defense dictated our offense, that's our mentality. I just have to do a better job preparing them.”
GOLDEN STATE FORWARDS GABBY WILLIAMS AND KAYLA THORNTON:
ON THE 4TH QUARTER:
Williams: “Yeah, that can carry over. I mean, it was that second unit that was in that made that run, and this is a long season, so our depth is going to be our strength. Those guys getting in those minutes during crunch time, and against a really good team, the defending champs, that's huge for us.”
ON PERFORMANCE IN THE PAINT:
Thornton: “I think we're a great team that attacks the paint. If you miss it, that's okay, it’s onto the next thing, but like Gabby [Williams] said, we're a defense-first team. So I think that's what we have to get back to understanding, that's how we want to win games.”
ON COMPETING AGAINST A’JA WILSON:
Thornton: “I mean, A’ja [Wilson] is great, right? A’ja is who she is, so being undersized, I had to do a little more work and just rely on the help from my teammates, but also do my work early. She gets what she gets, you just have to play through it.”
Up Next: The Valkyries host Portland on Tuesday, June 2 at 7 p.m., airing on KPIX+, KMAX, 95.7 The Game and The Audacy App.
