While the Golden State Warriors‘ regular season is wrapped up, Friday marked the start of a new hoops campaign at San Francisco’s Chase Center. In front of a packed house, the Bay Area welcomed the Golden State Valkyries to the WNBA.
In their inaugural season, the WNBA’s 13th franchise, the Valkyrie, hosted the Los Angeles Sparks for their regular-season opener on Friday night. Despite a raucous 18,064 fans in the crowd on a historic night, Kelsey Plum and the Los Angeles Sparks stole the show.
The Valkyrie hung tight with the Spakrs through most of the contest. However, Natalie Nakase’s new squad didn’t have an answer for Plum in the second half. Plum caught fire in the third quarter, scoring 17 of his game-high 37 points in the third frame.
In her Sparks debut, Plum knocked down four 3-pointers along with dishing out six assists and recording five steals and two boards in 40 minutes.
Trailing by only six heading into the fourth quarter, the Valkyrie went cold down the stretch. Golden State tallied just seven points on 3-of-12 shooting from the field in the fourth quarter. With the Valkyrie catching a cold streak, the Sparks cruised to a 84-67 win on WNBA opening night.
Tiffany Hayes led the Valkyrie with 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the field with nine boards, an assist and a steal in 30 minutes. Julie Vanloo sparked the Valkyrie off the bench with 14 points and four made 3-pointers.
Kayla Thornton will go down in history as the first member of the Valkyrie to record a point for the franchise. Thornton got the Valkyrie on the board in the first quarter with a turnaround jumper from the elbow.
With their first game in the books, the Valkyrie will return on Chase Center on Wednesday night to host the Washington Mystic.
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