WILLIAMS ERUPTS IN SECOND HALF TO LEAD GOLDEN STATE
UConn fans were treated to another instant classic on Friday night, featuring multiple former Huskies on Friday night. The Golden State Valkyries overcame a 16-point deficit in a second-half rally, led by Gabby Williams, to win 77-73 over the Dallas Wings. The win secured the first postseason series win in franchise history for Golden State and a berth in the WNBA semifinals against the Las Vegas Aces.
Williams scored 17 of her 19 points in the second half, Tiffany Hayes added 18 points off the bench. Kiah Stokes recorded six points, a game-high 13 rebounds and three blocks, while Kaitlyn Chen grabbed three rebounds in seven minutes in relief. Paige Bueckers struggled from the field for a second consecutive game, scoring 17 points on 3-of-14 shooting after going 3-of-13 in Game 2. Most of her points on Friday came at the free-throw line where she went a perfect 10-of-10. She added six assists with just one turnover and two blocks.
Stokes got the Husky scoring early as she finished off a layup after a dish from Veronica Burton on a pick and roll. A few possessions later, Williams intercepted a pass intended for Bueckers and converted it into a fast-break layup, tying the game at four. Paige scored just one point on a technical foul free throw in the first quarter, but she did hand out three assists, leading to seven Wings points.
In the second quarter, Hayes drove to the basket and kicked it out to Kailia Charles for a three-pointer to cut the Wings’ lead to two, 19-17. Later, Hayes stayed hot offensively as she knocked in a three-pointer off a handoff from Stokes. 30 seconds later, she drove hard to the basket and converted the layup through contact while drawing the foul. Hayes would go on to make the free throw and give the Valkyries a 33-31 lead. Bueckers quickly followed with her first field goal of the night on the Wings very next possession to tie the game at 33.
With under two minutes left in the second quarter, Bueckers drove left with the authority to draw a foul as she made the highly contested shot. Paige made the ensuing free throw, leading the Wings to a 44-37 halftime lead.
Dallas led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter after going on a 20-0 run that began in the first half. As part of that run, Bueckers came off a screen and drilled a three-pointer to extend the Wings’ lead to 51-37. It would be the third and final field goal of the game for the 2024-2025 National Champion.
But then Gabby Williams got going.
With 2:36 left in the third, the back-to-back 2015-2016 national champion connected on a three-pointer to trim the deficit to 10, 55-45, sending the Valkyries fans into a frenzy. Then she buried another triple off a feed from Stokes to cut the deficit to three, 57-54 with 19.7 seconds left in the quarter. Golden State inched even closer after Williams delivered her third three-pointer of the night, this time off a pass from Hayes to bring Golden State’s gap to just one, 63-62 with 7:18 left in regulation. On the Wings’ next offensive tip, Bueckers picked up her sixth assist of the night after leading Arike Ogunbowale to a bucket in the paint and a 65-62 Wings lead. The back-and-forth continued as Williams found Charles for a three-pointer to tie the game at 65 on Golden State’s next possession.
Later, Stokes made the defensive play of the game after blocking a shot attempt by Jessica Shepard, leading to a fastbreak layup for Burton and a 67-65 Golden State advantage. After a few Wings baskets, Williams was called upon once again with her team trailing by three. She attacked the lane, right at Bueckers, and still made the layup to trim the margin to one 72-71 Wings. Moments later, Williams used a shot fake to free herself open on a jumper that dropped in for a 73-72 Golden State lead. After Dallas missed several opportunities on the offensive end, Williams drained four free throws in the final 9.6 seconds to seal the four-point victory.
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