Valkyries rally from 16 down to beat Wings 77-73 and reach WNBA semifinals
Golden State rallied from a 16-point deficit to beat the Dallas Wings 77-73 in a deciding Game 3 of their first-round WNBA playoff series on Friday night, with Gabby Williams hitting a go-ahead 17-foot jumper with 1:17 remaining and the Valkyries winning a late replay review.
Williams finished with 19 points, scoring all but two of them after halftime, while Veronica Burton recorded 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists; Burton’s layup with 8:19 to play pulled Golden State within 61-59. Arike Ogunbowale led Dallas with 30 points after knocking down an off-balance jumper with 3:13 left that put the Wings up five, following her 45-point performance in Dallas’s 108-100 overtime win on Wednesday night at home.
The game’s decisive turnover came after a replay review with 13.1 seconds remaining: Williams had jumped back inbounds to corral her own missed shot on a play originally ruled to be Dallas’s ball, and Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase successfully challenged that call. Nakase had earlier fallen to her knees on the sideline and been helped up, and she walked off the court escorted by a staff member holding her face; assistant coach Kasib Powell addressed the media in the postgame news conference where Nakase typically speaks.
Golden State’s rally followed a dismal start to the third quarter, when the Valkyries missed three straight three-pointers and nine shots overall as Dallas used a 9-0 run to open a 53-37 lead. The Valkyries recovered to pull within 59-54 entering the final 10 minutes, and Williams hit two three-pointers late in the third to help fuel the comeback.
Other contributors included Tiffany Hayes, who scored 18 points off the bench, Kaila Charles, who hit a tying three-pointer with 6:51 left, and Kiah Stokes, who grabbed 13 rebounds. Paige Bueckers added 17 points and six assists for Dallas but shot 3-for-14 from the field while making all 10 of her free throws.
The second-seeded Valkyries won a playoff series for the first time; last year, they became the first expansion team to reach the playoffs in their inaugural season. The Valkyries will be back at rocking Ballhalla for the series opener, with the team’s deafening, violet-crazed home crowd at Chase Center.
Golden State advances to a best-of-five semi-final against the defending WNBA champions, the Las Vegas Aces, and the team said afterward that Nakase was fine and expected to coach Sunday in Game 1.