Golden State 104, Dallas 80
By the Numbers
- The Valkyries earned their first-ever postseason win in team history, scoring the most-ever points in team history (104).
- Golden State drew a sell-out crowd of 18,064, its 46th-straight sellout dating back to last season.
- Cecilia Zandalasini scored a career postseason high of 22 points, going 7-11 (63.6 percent) from the field and 4-5 (80 percent) from three. Zandalasini is the first player in postseason history to score 20 or more points in less than 17 minutes.
- Tiffany Hayes posted 21 points and four assists, and two steals, becoming the second player in WNBA postseason history to post that stat line as a reserve.
- Gabby Williams recorded 20 points, tying her playoff career high, and added four assists, three rebounds, and a steal.
- Veronica Burton added a team-high five assists and finished with ten points, and was a perfect 2-2 from the line as well as beyond the arc.
- Kayla Thornton finished with 10 points, going 4-6 from the field (66.7 percent) and 2-4 (50 percent) from three). Thornton also contributed five rebounds and one assist.
- Kiah Stokes was a key defensive contributor with a team-high eight rebounds, including six defensive. Stokes also added two assists and one block.
- Aminata Gueye scored her first-ever WNBA points.
- The Valkyries knocked down 18 threes, tying the team record for threes in a game (regular and postseason) and the second-most threes in WNBA postseason history (trailing Las Vegas - 23 in 2022. Golden State’s eight bench threes ties the all-time WNBA postseason record for bench threes in a game.
- The 50 percent (18-36) from three is a season high for Golden State.
Quotes
HEAD COACH NATALIE NAKASE:
ON CECILIA ZANDALISINI:
“She has another level, she saw a couple go in, and V [Veronica Burton] found her, Gabby [Williams] found her, everybody found her. That’s what we talk about with patience, and composure, and finding the right hand. Just seeing that, she’s [Cecilia Zandalisini] just got another level.”
GOLDEN STATE FORWARDS GABBY WILLIAMS AND CECILIA ZANDALASINI:
ON THE WIN:
Williams: “We wanted to start well and set the tone for the rest of the series. I think what was great about tonight was watching every single person contribute and seeing everyone get going.”
ON TIFFANY HAYES’ PERFORMANCE:
Williams: “She's [Tiffany Hayes] just unguardable, and I think just watching someone give us that boost of energy off of the bench, that's part of our identity. Knowing I can play as hard as I can when I'm on the court because as soon as someone else comes in, we have another burst; and that's just what we've hung our hat on all season is our depth. Tip is one of the all-time greats in this league, and so just watching her get going, I think we all feed off of her.”
ON THE FIRST POSTSEASON WIN IN TEAM HISTORY:
Zandalasini: “It feels great. It feels great starting well this time. So [we’ve] just got to keep going.
First game, first series, so we just got to think about the next one; and I think you can see the growth that we have from last year. So it just kind of goes with everybody being focused and keep growing from last season to this season.”
Up Next: The Valkyries will visit Dallas for game two of the first round WNBA Playoffs on Wednesday, September 30, tipping off at 6 p.m. PT on ESPN, 95.7 The Game, ESPN 1320 and the Audacy App.
