The Golden State Valkyries cap off their four-game road trip at the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday.
The Valkyries (10-9) are coming off an 80-61 victory over the Indiana Fever on Wednesday, which snapped a two-game losing streak. Veronica Burton scored 21 points, with a career-high five 3-pointers, and added eight rebounds with six assists.
The first-year franchise is second in the league in defensive rating (97.3). The Valkyries held the Fever’s Caitlin Clark to 10 points in her return from a left groin injury.
“I mean, you guys saw what we’re doing. We were being disruptive. We know (Clark) doesn’t like physicality,” Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase said, via CBS Sports. “We know she wants to get to that left step back. … So we were just making sure she wasn’t getting into rhythm and then that she was seeing multiple bodies.”
The Valkyries are the third expansion franchise in WNBA history with 10 victories in less than 20 games. The Minnesota Lynx (1999) and the Detroit Shock (1998) also accomplished the feat.
Three-time MVP A’ja Wilson (wrist) missed the Aces’ 70-68 road loss to the Washington Mystics on Thursday, and on Friday she was deemed questionable for the game against Golden State.
Without their top player, the Aces (9-11) folded down the stretch and were outscored 12-2 over the final 3:16 of the game. Jewell Loyd led the Aces with 20 points in the defeat.
Aces head coach Becky Hammon believes a lackluster effort immediately after halftime cost her team the game.
“Our defense was probably similarly awful though,” Hammon said. “In the third quarter, we didn’t come out and set the right tone. I thought the third quarter was kind of where we lost momentum.”
The Aces are 1-3 in their last four games, fourth-worst in the league for offensive rating (99.4) and fifth-worst for defensive rating (101.6).
This is the Valkyries’ first game in Las Vegas, while Nakase and guard Kate Martin both return to face their former team. Nakase was an Aces assistant coach the previous three seasons.
Golden State routed visiting Las Vegas 95-68 in the first-ever meeting between the teams on June 7 at San Francisco.
–Field Level Media
