Valkyries' offense at its worst as first half ends with road loss to Storm
In their lowest-scoring game of their inaugural season, the Valkyries fell 67-58 in Seattle on Wednesday, their third straight loss and fifth in six games.
After toppling the Storm twice in June at Chase Center, Golden State struggled to generate any offense at Climate Pledge Arena despite holding Seattle to one of its worst scoring games of the season as well.
The Valkyries (10-12) fell to 3-8 on the road.
Golden State shot 24.2% in the second half (including a 3-for-19 effort from distance) and scored just 27 points. The Storm went three minutes in the fourth quarter without a basket, but the Valkyries tallied just 14 points in that frame. Neither team scored more than 19 points in any quarter.
The Valkyries held Seattle to 32.8% shooting with their zone defense, a tactic that has previously given the Storm trouble. But Golden State's offense struggled to get into a rhythm and shot 31.7%, its worst showing of the season.
Golden State shot 40.7% in the first half to be knotted 31-31 with Seattle (14-9) at the break. But the Valkyries opened the third quarter by missing 10 of their first 11 shots and went scoreless for four minutes as the Storm went ahead by seven.
Tiffany Hayes and Cecilia Zandalasini hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the fourth to make it a two-point contest, 54-52. The Valkyries never got any closer despite Seattle shooting 23.1% in the fourth.
Storm 67, Valkyries 58
FG FT Reb
GOLDEN STATE Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS
Salaün 13:59 3-9 3-4 0-4 0 0 10
Thornton 24:48 1-9 2-2 0-4 2 4 4
Fágbénlé 25:34 2-2 0-0 2-4 1 5 5
Burton 31:26 3-9 2-2 1-8 4 3 8
Hayes 20:17 1-3 0-0 0-2 1 2 3
Zandalasini 25:22 3-10 4-4 1-4 0 4 12
Leite 15:59 2-5 0-0 0-0 2 2 5
Martin 15:12 1-7 0-0 0-4 2 1 3
Chen 12:19 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 2
Amihere 9:20 1-2 2-4 1-4 1 0 4
Billings 5:44 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 1 2
Totals 200:00 19-60 13-16 5-35 13 24 58
Percentages: FG .317, FT .813.
3-Point Goals: 7-31, .226 (Zandalasini 2-8, Fágbénlé 1-1, Hayes 1-2, Leite 1-3, Salaün 1-4, Martin 1-6, Amihere 0-1, Chen 0-1, Thornton 0-2, Burton 0-3).
Team Rebounds: 9. Team Turnovers: 3.
Blocked Shots: 5 (Burton, Fágbénlé, Leite, Thornton, Zandalasini).
Turnovers: 11 (Burton 4, Martin 3, Hayes, Leite, Thornton, Zandalasini).
Steals: 2 (Fágbénlé, Martin).
Technical Fouls: None.
Percentages: FG .328, FT .818.
3-Point Goals: 7-29, .241 (Brown 2-4, Wheeler 2-8, Magbegor 1-1, Mitchell 1-2, Ogwumike 1-7, Williams 0-3, Diggins 0-4).
Team Rebounds: 14. Team Turnovers: 1.
Blocked Shots: 4 (Magbegor 2, Diggins, Ogwumike).
Turnovers: 7 (Diggins 2, Williams 2, Clark, Magbegor, Ogwumike).
Steals: 7 (Williams 2, Clark, Magbegor, Mitchell, Ogwumike, Wheeler).
Technical Fouls: None.
Golden State 15 16 13 14 — 58
Seattle 14 17 17 19 — 67
A_12,500 (15,354). T_2:07.
The Valkyries got 28 points from the bench, led by 12 from Zandalasini, while head coach Natalie Nakase rested the starters more than she has over the most recent stretch. Kayla Thornton played just under 25 minutes and Hayes 20:17. Janelle Salaün, who scored 10 points, played just 13:59 — none in the fourth quarter.
Nneka Ogwumike scored 22 points for the Storm and Erica Wheeler had 15, including six on back-to-back treys early in the third quarter.
The Valkyries are off until July 25 when they host Dallas. The All-Star Game is Saturday in Indianapolis; Thornton is the lone Golden State representative.
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