Williams’ Career Night Not Enough as Bueckers, Wings Force Decisive Game 3
WILLIAMS’ CAREER-HIGH 36 POINTS OVERSHADOWED BY WNBA POSTSEASON RECORD
Gabby Williams made countless clutch baskets, but Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings did just enough to squeak out a 108-100 overtime victory in Game 2 of the First Round of the WNBA playoffs. The win extends the series to a decisive Game 3, which will be on Friday night back in the Bay Area.
Williams finished with a career-best 36 points on 12-of-23 shooting, including 5-of-12 from three and 7-of-7 from the free-throw line. She also added six rebounds, seven assists and four steals in 37 minutes. Tiffany Hayes (6 points, 2 assists) and Kaityln Chen (4 points, 2 assists) contributed off the bench. Kiah Stokes was held scoreless but grabbed five rebounds and one assist in 25 minutes.
After scoring an efficient 21 points in Game 1, Bueckers was held to just 10 points on 3-of-13 from the field as she avoided Golden State double teams.
Stokes found Williams for a fadeaway jumper to open the game’s scoring 25 seconds into the game. That bucket got the former Husky star going as she drilled a top-of-the-key three-pointer, drove on Bueckers before kicking it out to Veronica Burton for another triple, then knocked down a pull-up jumper to give Golden State a 12-6 lead with 5:34 remaining in the opening quarter.
Dallas pushed it out into transition and found Bueckers on the left wing for her first and only three-ball of the game and trimmed the team’s deficit to 15-11. Williams responded a minute later with back-to-back buckets, first knocking down a three-pointer after being freed up by a screen, then driving down the lane and finishing a layup through contact. She made the ensuing free throw to give her 13 first-quarter points and Golden State a 21-13 lead. Hayes scored four points in the final 23.8 seconds of the opening frame, hitting two free throws and converting a layup to extend the Valkyries’ 26-23 lead.
There was not much Husky action in the second quarter, as Bueckers attempted just two shots, missed both and went into halftime with six points on 1-of-5 shooting. Williams scored four points and dished out an assist on a Burton layup. Dallas led 50-45 after 20 minutes of play.
Williams picked it back up on the Valkyries’ first possession of the second half, finding Kayla Thornton from beyond the arc to cut the deficit to two, 50-48. Golden State’s leading scorer later re-gave her team the lead after dialing up a pull-up three-pointer for a 60-59 lead. Chen got involved in the fun late in the third quarter, finding Kailia Charles open for a three-pointer to give Golden State a 72-70 lead. Then to start the fourth quarter, she made back-to-back layups, including a layup off a pass from Hayes to extend the Valkyries lead to five. But Bueckers had an answer, knocking down a tough, contested shot while falling to the floor to trim the deficit to three, 78-75 with 7:51 remaining in regulation.
Over four minutes later, Williams grabbed a defensive rebound, ran down the floor and dumped it down to Charles for an easy layup and an 87-84 lead, forcing Dallas to call a timeout. With under two minutes remaining in regulation, Williams scored six straight points, first on a pull-up elbow jumper, followed by four consecutive free throws, the final two coming intentionally, to extend the Valkyries’ lead to 93-90 with 14.6 seconds remaining. After another Wings timeout, Bueckers bounced a pass to Arike Ogubowale, who drilled a game-tying three-pointer over the hand of WIlliams to send the game into overtime.
The Wings started the extra period the same way they ended regulation, a Bueckers assist to an Ogubowale triple as the shot clock expired, giving Dallas a 96-93 lead. The former Notre Dame star ended the game with a WNBA postseason record 45 points.
Williams followed with a left-handed layup and then her own three-pointer to tie the contest at 98 with 2:26 left in overtime. However, Williams missed her final five shots from the field as the Wings were able to grow the lead to multiple possessions.
BREANNA STEWART, LIBERTY SET TO FACE ATLANTA DREAM IN SEMIFINALS
Just like New York Liberty did against its first-round opponent, the Minnesota Lynx, the Atlanta Dream swept the Washington Mystics in two games, setting up a semifinal matchup against Breanna Stewart’s club.
The Dream won the season series two games to one. Stewart played in two of those contests and recorded two double-doubles. On June 11th, she scored 19 points on just nine shot attempts while grabbing 11 rebounds in a 104-90 Liberty victory. Then on September 21st, Stewie poured in 27 points and 14 rebounds in a 95-84 Dream win.
The series is set to begin on Sunday with Game 1 in Atlanta.
ANTHONY KAY PICKS UP FIRST CAREER POSTSEASON WIN, WHITE SOX ADVANCE TO ALDS
The former Husky southpaw made his MLB postseason debut on Tuesday after coming out of the bullpen with runners on first and second in the bottom of the fifth inning and the White Sox leading 4-3 in Game 2 of the American Wild Card Series against the Houston Astros.
The first batter Kay faced was arugably the game’s best hitter, Yordan Alvarez. On a 3-1 pitch, he got Alvarez to line out to left field for the second out of the inning. After issuing a walk to Isaac Paredes, Jose Altuve came up with the bases loaded. Kay threw an 0-1 changeup to get Altuve to fly out to right field to escape the jam.
Kay’s afternoon was over as Jordan Hicks replaced him to begin the bottom of the sixth. However, recording those two outs earned Kay the victory as the White Sox swept the Houston Astros in two games to advance to the American League Division Series.
The series win is the franchise’s first since winning the 2005 World Series.
The White Sox will begin a best-of-five series against the Cleveland Guardians starting on Saturday. Kay has had his way against Cleveland in four starts this season, going 1-0 with 17 strikeouts over 20 innings on just a 1.35 ERA.
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