LAS VEGAS (AP) — If the Aces set the recent standard by winning three of the four past titles, the Valkyries are showing that not all the WNBA history making these days belongs only to Las Vegas.
Golden State last season became the first expansion franchise to make the playoffs, and now in its second year is the quickest to reach the WNBA Finals.
Kayla Thornton scored 18 points to lead the deep, defensive-minded Valkyries past the Aces 87-77 in overtime Friday night, sweeping the defending champions in three games.
“It feels special because this is a special group,” said Gabby Williams, who scored 16 points for the Valkyries, including eight in overtime. “We’re about to have some bandwagoners, but we ain’t got no love all season. Nobody believed in us, but it made us smile because we were like, ‘All we need is each other.’”
The second-seeded Valkyries will have home-court advantage and will host No. 4 Atlanta beginning Oct. 17. The Dream swept New York earlier in the night, and now teams are 22-0 in playoff history when leading a series 2-0.
This was the first time a Becky Hammon-coached Aces team was swept in the playoffs. The last time Las Vegas went through that experience was in the 2020 Finals when the Bill Laimbeer-coached Aces were beaten in all three games by Seattle.
“I’m going to try to show up and uphold that (championship) standard every single opportunity I get because, hell, we created it,” Aces star A’ja Wilson said. “I feel like every year for us is championship or bust. So it’s a bust year for us, but at the same time, I’m never going to lose sight of what we’ve done to this league and how we continue to uplift it.”
This series had quite an Aces flavor to it on the winning side, from former Las Vegas assistant and now Golden State coach Natalie Nakase to players Kiah Stokes and Tiffany Hayes. They each had 11 points, and Stokes also grabbed 10 rebounds.
“I actually tried to walk through the tunnel with my head down because there are so many people I consider family,” Nakase said. “Obviously, Becky. She hired me. She’s the one who invited me into the W. The years I spent with her, I knew I was going to learn a lot.”
Her familiarity with the opposing side certainly didn’t hurt.
Wilson, honored before night’s game for winning an unprecedented fifth MVP, scored 21 points, but on 6-for-19 shooting for the Aces. She also had 10 rebounds, joining DeWanna Bonner as the only players with 1,300 points and 600 rebounds in the postseason.
Jackie Young added 18 points and Chelsea Gray 17.
A 17-point run bolted Golden State past the Aces for a 53-47. Las Vegas closed within a point by the end of the quarter, giving the Aces only seven points in the period.
The Aces led by six points late in the game before the Valkyries evened the score when Gabby Williams stole the ball from Wilson and Thornton finished with a transition layup to make it 69-69 with 1:50 left.
Golden State then took the lead Veronica Burton’s 9-foot floater with 1:12 remaining. The Aces tied the score on Gray’s inbound pass to Young with 27 seconds left and ultimately force overtime.
The extra period belonged completely to the Valkyries, who outscored the Aces 16-6
___
See AP’s full WNBA coverage here
By MARK ANDERSON
AP Sports Writer
