Gabby Williams’ Stellar Postseason Continues, Stewart’s Fourth-Quarter Surge Falls Short

WILLIAMS’ BIG NIGHT PUTS GOLDEN STATE IN CHARGE OF SERIES

Gabby Williams’ dominant 2026 WNBA postseason run continued Sunday as she recorded her first career postseason double-double, finishing with 25 points and 11 rebounds in the Golden State Valkyries’ 71-60 Game 1 victory over the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA semifinals. Kaitlyn Chen recorded her first-ever playoff double-digit performance, finishing with 11 points. Tiffany Hayes added three points, while Kiah Stokes pulled down a season-high 14 rebounds with four blocks.

Stokes grabbed an offensive rebound and found Williams on the opposite wing and drilled an open three-pointer to tie the game at five. A little over a minute later, Williams used a shot fake before knocking in her second straight shot from behind the arc. Then she drove into the paint and put in a jumper over the hand of A’ja Wilson to trim the Valkyries deficit to one, 11-10. With just over a minute left in the first quarter, the two-time WNBA All-Star took it all the way to the rim and made the basket while being fouled by Chelsea Gray. Williams made the free throw before sinking two more with 35.4 seconds remaining, giving her 13 points in the first quarter.

The Valkyries’ first basket of the second period featured excellent ball movement from three former Huskies. Hayes forced a steal before passing up a shot to find Williams, who also passed up a shot and found Chen open for a three-pointer, which she buried to give Golden State a 25-18 lead. The final two Husky baskets of the first half went to Williams as she grabbed a rebound and went coast to coast for an easy layup in transition. She followed by pulling off a crossover into a three-pointer over Gray, extending Golden State’s lead to nine, 32-23. 

To open the second half, Chen took her defender one-on-one and finished with the left-handed layup to bring the Valkyries’ lead to seven, 41-34. Williams then dished off two textbook assists on a pair of bounces that led to easy Golden State baskets for an eight-point lead.

In the fourth quarter, Hayes attacked the paint and connected on a floater to bring the Valkyries’ lead to 10, 58-48. About two minutes later, Williams supplied the dagger by pulling up and draining her fourth three-pointer of the night to push Golden State’s lead to 62-53.

In four postseason games, Williams is averaging 25.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game while shooting lights out from the field (47.3%), including 14-of-30 from three (46.7%) and 16-of-17 from the free-throw line (94.1%).

Golden State held the defending WNBA Finals champion Aces to just 60 points, tied for the fewest points the franchise has scored in a postseason game.

STEWART’S BIG SECOND HALF ISN'T ENOUGH AS LIBERTY DROP GAME 1

Breanna Stewart went nearly two full quarters without a basket or an assist as the New York Liberty fell on the road 92-82 to the Atlanta Dream in Game 1 of the WNBA Semifinals. The four-time National Champion scored 13 of her 19 points in the second half, but the Dream made just enough plays to hold onto the 10-point victory.

All six of Stewart’s first-half points came in the opening quarter on four free throws and on a five-footer to give New York a 17-16 lead with 3:22 left. The Liberty took a 40-37 lead to the locker room at halftime, but the Dream opened the second half on an 18-5 run before Stewie recorded her first points of the third quarter. With under just four minutes left, Stewart connected on two free throws. She soon followed with a turnaround jumper in the paint to trim the Liberty deficit to 10, 59-49.

Once the fourth quarter began, Stewart turned it up another notch. The three-time WNBA champion received a pass at the top of the key, took one dribble and knocked down a free-throw-line jumper, cutting Atlanta’s lead to 14 at 71-57. Later, Stewart drove towards the paint, kicked it out to Jonquel Jones, who drilled in a three-pointer to cut the margin to 11. Then the former Husky star was left open for her own triple, trimming the gap to single digits, 71-63. Stewie didn't stop there as she pulled up for another jumper to keep it a nine-point game with just under seven minutes to play. Stewart accounted for the Liberty's first 10 points of the final quarter.

New York kept fighting as Stewart forced a Dream turnover and turned it into two more points on a layup to cut the Dream advantage down to just five, 82-77 with 2:50 left. However, the Dream were able to hold off the Liberty’s comeback as Atlanta scored 10 of the game’s final 15 points to take a 1-0 series lead.

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