Gabby Williams didn’t mince words before the Golden State Valkyries faced the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night. After back-to-back losses to the Las Vegas Aces and Minnesota Lynx, the message was simple when she walked into the huddle.
“Win. At all costs.”
Then she went out and played like it. Williams dropped a game-high 23 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished five assists and finished with a plus-17 rating, powering the Valkyries to a 77-66 win over the Dream. It was the kind of performance that made you wonder if she was just tired of losing or if something else clicked. Both, probably.
“When we come in with a mentality like that, no one can stop us. It’s just us,” Williams said. “So we just need to stay disciplined, need to know that our energy is our strength, and just stay in that.”
That attitude showed up most on the defensive end. Golden State held Atlanta to a season-low 66 points. The Dream came in averaging 90.4 points per game. They shot 3-of-17 from three-point range. Angel Reese, Allisha Gray and Jordan Canada combined to go 8-of-32 from the floor. That’s not a bad night for Atlanta. That’s a team getting its lunch money taken.
Kayla Thornton, who scored 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from deep, said the Valkyries went back to the film room after the Vegas loss and found some hard truths.
“We had a different attitude and approach,” Thornton said. “When we work together, when we’re connected, we’re kind of tough.”
It wasn’t all smooth. The Valkyries started cold again, which is kind of their thing this season. They missed their first seven shots of the fourth quarter and nearly let another scoring drought sink them. But Thornton drilled timely threes, and Cecilia Zandalasini added 14 points on four triples to keep Atlanta at arm’s length.
Laeticia Amihere’s scrappy return to the rotation
One of the biggest sparks came from a player who wasn’t even in the rotation a few weeks ago. Backup center Laeticia Amihere played 12 minutes off the bench and finished with six points, five rebounds and two blocks. She looked like someone who didn’t want to go back to the bench.
“She never lets you feel like you’re asking her to do too much,” Williams said. “It’s just her motor, it’s just the energy that she plays with. She can be any kind of player, any kind of day. You need her to be the four? Need to guard this person or guard that person? She’ll do it. And you never hesitate to ask, because that’s just her.”
Coach Natalie Nakase said Amihere earned her minutes by grinding through the Valkyries’ stay-ready games — those scrimmages between the end of the bench and the practice staff that keep players loose for when their number gets called. Nakase said Amihere wants to play again Friday. The coach’s response? Be ready.
Defense first, everything else second
The Valkyries only scored 14 points in the fourth quarter. They still have cold streaks that flare up and throw everything off. But Nakase keeps coming back to the same thing when the offense stalls.
“It’s control what we can control, and that’s our defensive effort,” Nakase said. “LA came in, rim protected really well. I thought we did a better job in transition. I think we started off a little too slow. But at the end of the day, we’re going to rely on our defense.”
Golden State gets another crack at Atlanta on Friday. If the defense shows up again, the offense might not need to be pretty.
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