SAN FRANCISCO — In the span of a week, the Golden State Valkyries and Indiana Fever have seemingly become rivals.
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After a chippy, physical game last week in which Indiana won on its home floor, the Caitlin Clark-led Fever came to the Bay Area for round 2.
FThis time, the Valkyries got their revenge.
Golden State held off Indiana in the waning minutes, led by a flurry of clutch buckets from Janelle Salaün and Veronica Burton to earn a 90-88 win. The Valkyries are now 7-2 this season.
Burton led Golden State with 25 points, six rebounds and five blocks. Salaün added 19 points.
Clark had 16 points and six assists.
The Valkyries found success going at Clark early.
Each time the former Iowa standout was on the floor in the first half, the Valkyries attempted to force favorable switches on Clark and constantly took her to the rim. Clark finished the first two quarters with three fouls, including a bad shooting foul with 3.1 seconds left in the half.
Golden State led by as much as 11 in the second quarter, but Indiana finished the half strong as both teams went into halftime tied at 44.
Much like last game, Indiana made its run in the third quarter. Indiana used a quick 6-0 run to take a 66-60 advantage late in the period. But a few timely buckets from Salaün got the Valkyries back to within striking distance early in the fourth quarter.
In the final minutes, Burton and Salaün took turns hitting clutch basket after clutch basket to seal a gritty win at home.
Salaün bounces back
After a rough stretch of games for the French forward, Salaün had a nice bounce-back game off the bench.
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Salaün finished with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting in 24 minutes. Salaün opened the first two games of the season averaging 20.5 points per game on efficient shooting splits, but has failed to score more than 12 points ever since.
In the final two minutes, Salaün grabbed two crucial rebounds, hit two free throws, and knocked down a clutch jumper that gave Golden State a 87-84 lead.
Salaün also had seven rebounds and three assists.
Jocytė provides spark
During her pregame press conference, Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase seemed to hint that rookie Justė Jocytė might not get into Thursday’s game.
“To be honest, she still doesn’t know all of our stuff,” Nakase said. “I would say conditioning levels, she’s not there yet.I gave Gabby (Williams) a week and she’s been with us for three days, so I just again want to keep giving her that space.”
But with the Valkyries needing an offensive spark early in the third quarter, the 20-year-old guard was told to get on the stationary bike to warm up. Then, Nakase told her to check in.
The crowd, feeling the need for an offensive punch, went nuts.
Jocytė finished with three points in 16 minutes, most notably calling for an isolation against Clark and hitting a 3-pointer in her face.
Jocytė essentially closed Thursday’s game, checking in at the 6:37 mark of the third quarter and not coming out until 24.8 seconds remained in the game.
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