Golden State 82, Washington 90
By the Numbers
- The Valkyries posted their 37th consecutive home sellout on Monday night, drawing 18,064 fans.
- Kaitlyn Chen led the Valkyries in scoring with a career-high 20 points alongside a career-high six assists. Tonight marks the 10th time Chen has scored in double figures this season.
- Kayla Thornton scored 15 points, shooting 4-7 (57.1 percent) from three, and added three rebounds and two steals.
- Veronica Burton contributed a team-high seven assists along with 12 points. Burton shot 5-8 (62.5 percent) from the field and tied Thornton with a team-best two steals.
- Janelle Salaün finished 4-4 (100 percent) from the line and totaled 11 points. Tonight was Salaün’s 18th time scoring in double-digits this season.
- Kaila Charles hauled in a team-best five rebounds, marking her fifth time this season she’s led the team in boards.
- With two blocks, Kiah Stokes surpassed her season average of 1.8, a stat that ranks second in the league.
- The Valkyries produced 10 steals to Washington’s four and scored 19 points off the Mystics’ 17 turnovers.
- Four Valkyries finished in double figures in Chen, Burton, Salaün and Thornton.
- Golden State didn’t shoot its first free throw until 2:19 in the third quarter, and went 8-11 (72.7 percent) from the line in the game.
Quotes
HEAD COACH NATALIE NAKASE:
ON KAITLYN CHEN’S PERFORMANCE:
“She was fearless tonight…One of the best things I've noticed with Kaitlyn [Chen] over these last couple games is that she really wants to make her teammates better when she's on the floor. You could feel that energy kind of go up a level, and so I think that's what's really special about Kaitlyn. She doesn't have to start, that's not important to her. It's just the minutes that she's on the floor, she's impacting her teammates.”
ON THE UPCOMING ALL-STAR BREAK:
“They won games. They won nine. But they deserve this break, so I said, ‘Fresh bodies, fresh minds, whatever it, whatever you guys need.’ But at the same time, V [Veronica Burton], she's just so mindful and said, 'Hey, let's make sure we watch Gabby [Williams] for the All-Star Game and cheer her on and support her.’ So we're definitely going to do that. I told them I'm going to miss them over the next six days. If they want to text me, they can. If they don't want to, I won't take offense to it. But fresh minds, fresh bodies, and then we're gonna be ready to go. We’ve already started talking about Phoenix.”
ON THE FOURTH QUARTER:
“Usually we've been good in those situations because we’ve talked about time and score, but we’ve also talked about not fouling, and not giving up threes, and maintaining that lead. But unfortunately we just didn't do that. This is something we can definitely learn from, but we have done well in the past with that. So being super disciplined towards the end, and then obviously trying to execute on the offensive end and not just forcing things. I think I have to do a better job of organizing and letting them know what we need down this stretch. Things that we've done well before, so we can learn from it.”
GOLDEN STATE GUARDS VERONICA BURTON AND KAITLYN CHEN:
ON TONIGHT’S LOSS:
Burton “Yeah, that's a tough one. I think there's a lot to learn from that, and I think just taking care of the ball is a big one. I think composure comes from that, and I think it starts with me with the ball and [being] at the point guard position. Obviously we were out there together, but having us organized, having us on the same page, and keeping us calm when things start to flip a little bit. I think we didn't necessarily have that, even though we've had that recently; and then getting stops, we rely on our defense, and I think at times when we would struggle on the offensive end. Our defense just kind of folded along with it. So, that's a tough one, but it’s not permanent.”
ON WHAT SHE SAW FROM KAITLYN CHEN TONIGHT:
Burton: “I saw from Kaitlyn [Chen] what I see every day, honestly. Maybe not every game, but seriously, she's lethal. I saw it in training camp, I saw it in the off season, and her ability to score is very impressive, and it's impressive at her height. Her finishing package, her ability to to keep people honest, and then create for others as well. I think the sky's the limit for her.”
ON PLAYING THROUGH ADVERSITY:
Chen: “I feel like we've done a good job so far. I mean, you don't win that many games without handling adversity well. Today was just sort of a tough one. I feel like we played four minutes of rough basketball at the end, which is really unfortunate, but I think we're gonna bounce back and we're gonna be ready next game.”
Up Next: The Valkyries visit the Mercury on Wednesday, July 29, tipping off at 7 p.m. PT on USA, KPIX+, KMAX, 95.7 The Game, the Audacy App, and ESPN 1320.
