The key facts

  • Gabby Williams — 26 points, 16 of them in the second quarter; no other Valkyries player scored 10+ points
  • Allisha Gray returned from a hand injury and scored 19 points, but went scoreless in the fourth quarter (team went 2/19 from the field in the quarter)
  • Game 2 of the series — Monday at Chase Center

Williams decides the finish

The Golden State Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream 68:64 in the first game of the WNBA Finals, held Saturday at Chase Center in San Francisco. Gabby Williams was the game's leading scorer with 26 points. With Atlanta leading 64:63 with 1:18 remaining, she grabbed the ball after Allisha Gray's miss, was fouled by Rhyne Howard — wait, by Angel Reese — and made both free throws to put the Valkyries ahead, 65:64. Two more free throws with 4.1 seconds left sealed the win.

A difficult night on offense

Williams scored no points in the first quarter but added 16 in the second. “Once we all started having fun, we started finding our game,” she said in an on-court interview. According to her, the “lid was on the rim” that night, “so we rely on our defense.” No other Valkyries player reached double figures in scoring. Williams, who finished second in voting for Defensive Player of the Year behind Atlanta's Reese, has become a notable offensive force for the team in the playoffs.

Atlanta cools off in the fourth quarter

Allisha Gray, the Dream's leading scorer, returned after missing two games with a hand injury and scored 19 points, but did not make a single shot in the fourth quarter, when Atlanta converted just 2 of 19 field goal attempts. Angel Reese added 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Rhyne Howard scored 12 points.

Series context

Game 2 of the best-of-five series will be played Monday, again on the Valkyries' home court. Neither team has ever won a WNBA title: the Dream have lost three Finals, most recently in 2013. The Valkyries last season became the first expansion team in league history to make the playoffs in their debut season, and now they are contending for the championship in just their second year of existence.