SAN FRANCISCO – (Wire Service Report) – On a night when Gabby Williams scored 30 points, the WNBA staged its first Game 7 in a championship series and the Golden State Valkyries captured their first title, strength in numbers was credited with propelling the second-year club to historic heights.
From owner Joe Lacob to coach Natalie Nakase and star player Williams, one number stood out: 18,064.
“Ballhalla,” Lacob screamed into a live microphone in tribute to the deafening capacity crowd at Chase Center in San Francisco during the trophy ceremony after his Valkyries had defeated the Atlanta Dream 68-63 in a hard-fought, winner-take-all finale. “Ballhalla.”
Williams overcame a 1-for-4, two-point first half to become the first player in WNBA postseason history to score 28 points in a half. The Valkyries’ only All-Star, who joined the team as a free agent in the offseason, joined Lacob in thanking a crowd that has sold out every game in franchise history while setting league attendance records.
“Honestly, everyone here, not just the players and the staff. (Also) the community, the city, the (San Francisco) Bay (Area),” she gushed at center court shortly after being named the series’ Most Valuable Player. “Y’all have been pouring into me all season. It’s a long season and y’all gave me energy.
“When the energy is this good and positive, it’s easy to come to work every day. That’s what I came here for.”
Playing 38 of the game’s 40 minutes, Williams saved enough energy to channel Stephen Curry on a go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:18 remaining and later win a key jump ball. Kiah Stokes converted a rare late Williams miss into a key basket with 53 seconds left, sending the violet-clad crowd into a frenzy.
In the end, Nakase recognized the enormity of assembling a group of players left unprotected in the expansion draft, a handful of international imports and one key free-agent signing into a team that finished with the league’s second-best regular-season record and became the first to win a Game 7 in WNBA Finals history.
“This is for all the people out there who are underrated, misunderstood. This is for all y’all,” she said from midcourt to the home fans and a national television audience. “This is proof: If you put all your heart and all your soul (into it), you can win championships.”
Rallying from a nine-point deficit in the third quarter, the Valkyries were tied at 53 midway through the fourth after Allisha Gray connected on a short jumper for Atlanta with 5:14 remaining.
Williams, after spearheading an earlier rally, came alive again. She hit two free throws with 3:34 to go and a driving layup 32 seconds later as the teams exchanged baskets. She then buried arguably the most important shot in Valkyries history — a 31-footer that gave Golden State the lead for good at 60-57 with 2:18 remaining.
She added two free throws, and when Stokes tipped in her teammate’s miss in the final minute, Chase Center — nicknamed “Ballhalla” — erupted as Golden State took a 64-57 advantage that it protected the rest of the way.
