Valkyries hold off Sparks to improve to 2-1 led by French rookies Leite, Salaün
LOS ANGLES — Head coach Natalie Nakase said before Friday's game that the Golden State Valkyries offense was built to be 'next person up' every game. Without Tiffany Hayes, that was Carla Leite and Janelle Salaün.
In the 82-73 victory over the Los Angeles Sparks, the Valkyries used 30 bench points, breakout games from French rookies Leite (19 points, plus-17 in 23 minutes) and Salaün (18 points, eight rebounds) and an explosive second quarter while Hayes was sidelined with a nose injury she suffered in Wednesday's win over Washington.
After the Valkyries allowed Los Angeles guard Kelsey Plum to score 37 in their season-opening loss a week ago, they held her to 16 points on 6-for-18 shooting. Golden State (2-1) led by as many as 20 but had to stave off a late comeback bid as it scored just 12 in the fourth quarter. The expansion team came away with its first road win, and first winning streak, in franchise history.
The Sparks (1-2) went on a 19-2 run in the first quarter fueled by three 3-pointers from Odyssey Sims but the Valkyries responded with a 35-8 tear that stretched into the second quarter, where Los Angeles did not score for the first 7:24 and totaled nine points in the frame. The Valkyries led 49-35 at halftime.
After a relatively clean first half of just five turnovers, the Valkyries gave the ball away 12 times in the second half after the Sparks defense started aggressively pressing the Golden State ballhandlers. The Valkyries made just two baskets in the fourth, but Sparks' turnovers proved costly too with 18 total. Five of those came from Veronica Burton steals, a career-high.
Valkyries 82, Sparks 73
Percentages: FG .415, FT .905.
3-Point Goals: 9-29, .310 (Salaün 4-8, Leite 2-2, Martin 2-2, Thornton 1-9, Fágbénlé 0-1, Talbot 0-1, Burton 0-2, Vanloo 0-4).
Team Rebounds: 9. Team Turnovers: 2.
Blocked Shots: 4 (Fágbénlé, Linskens, Salaün, Thornton).
Turnovers: 15 (Thornton 5, Burton 2, Fágbénlé 2, Salaün 2, Leite, Martin, Talbot, Vanloo).
Steals: 13 (Burton 5, Thornton 4, Salaün 2, Leite, Talbot).
Technical Fouls: None.
Percentages: FG .387, FT .727.
3-Point Goals: 9-26, .346 (Sims 3-6, Hamby 2-4, Plum 2-10, Allemand 1-2, Barker 1-4).
Team Rebounds: 10. Team Turnovers: 1.
Blocked Shots: 4 (Hamby 3, Cannon).
Turnovers: 17 (Hamby 4, Allemand 3, Plum 3, Barker 2, King 2, Russell, Sims, Stevens).
Steals: 9 (Plum 4, Barker 2, Cannon, Hamby, King).
Technical Fouls: None.
A_10,857 (18,997). T_2:00.
A game after the Valkyries started 0-for-17 from deep, Salaün knocked down a trey on the first possession, setting the tone for a far better shooting performance.
Leite added nine points in the third quarter as the Valkyries expanded their lead to 20. Kate Martin, who had been scoreless through two games, knocked down two 3-pointers and the Valkyries shot 9-for-29 from range overall. Kayla Thornton picked up a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Dearica Hamby led the Sparks with 25 points.
The Valkyries will head to Brooklyn for two games against the New York Liberty next week.
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