Passes were a beat late, shots went a little too long or short, and scoring was an arduous task. As it was in the friendly confines of Balhalla in Wednesday’s defeat to the Lynx, so it was for much of the Valkyries’ Friday night’s 73-70 loss at Chicago.
Sky rookie Sydney Taylor walked the Valkyries down in crunch time, hitting a 3-pointer to tie the game with 30 seconds left, and then burying an off-the-dribble 3-pointer over Veronica Burton to seal the victory with 0.6 seconds remaining, sending Golden State to its second consecutive loss.
“I mean, (that was a) difficult shot and credit to her,” Burton said.
Those shots blotted out what had been an inspiriting effort by the Valkyries’ bench unit.
After not playing against the Lynx, center Laeticia Amihere made the most of her opportunity against the moribund Sky on Friday. Using her superior footspeed and interior shot-making chops, the former South Carolina standout scored 16 while anchoring the Valkyries’ 2-3 zone.
After another sluggish start by the first five, coach Natalie Nakase handed the reins over to her reserves for the majority of the second half.
Amihere was a perfect 7 of 7 from the field, Janelle Salaun and Tip Hayes scored 23 combined and the Valkyries bench accounted for 51 points.
“They’re incredible players … but we can’t put them in that position, we can’t continue to ask our bench to save us,” Burton said.
Natasha Cloud led Chicago with 17 points while Kamilla Cardoso had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Meanwhile, Valkyries All-Star Gabby Williams put up just two points, shooting 0-for-6 and did not play after the 7:34 mark of the third quarter. Nakase said Williams was not injured.
“I was looking at getting people in who have fresh legs,” Nakase said. “The entire season, she’s been doing multiple things from closing to getting downhill, and I think teams are obviously targeting her (defensively).”
After going down by as much as 21 points in another slow start, the Valkyries had a level of success playing zone in the second quarter. They trailed 38-26 at halftime by going on 10-1 run to finish the half.
After falling behind by double digits midway through the third quarter, Salaun and Tip Hayes powered a 17-3 run to end the quarter with a 51-49 Golden State lead. Nakase rolled with the bench unit for much of the fourth quarter, asking Kaitlyn Chen to run point and Hayes to create off the dribble. Hayes tied the game at 65 with two minutes left on a driving layup.
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Chen popped in a 30-foot 3-pointer with a minute remaining to give the Valkyries a three-point lead, and then kept the advantage at three with a slick layup over a contest after Chicago scored. Taylor splashed a wide-open triple from the top of the arc with 30 seconds to go to give tie the game, and then broke the visitors hearts to improve the Sky’s record to 14-22.
The Valkyries (25-11) continue their five-game road trip with a Monday matchup against the league-best Lynx. Golden State remains the second seed in the league, and Nakase ruled out making any changes to the starting lineup.
Cardoso’s creates problems, Amihere presents solution
Cardoso is 6-foot-7, three inches taller than the tallest Valkyries player and averages 1.5 blocks per game, but her impact on the game goes beyond just block numbers. Though the Valkyries attempts more 3-pointers than any other team, their centers are not shooting threats.
Thus, Cardoso was allowed to camp in the paint and create a one-player obstacle a the rim. That tactic proved most effective. She was a plus-9 on the game, and held the Valkyries to just 14 points in the paint in the first half.
The Valkyries tried to run in transition, and had some success, but it was not a sustainable strategy.
Laeticia Amihere’s eight first-half points gave Golden State some speed at the five against Cardoso, but it still did not take her out of the paint. Despite Cardoso’s presence inside, the oft-unused reserve big found a way to be one of Golden State’s few reliable scorers in the first half. Nakase then went with Amihere for most of the second half.
” We were getting stops on defense and moving the ball on offense,” Amihere said. “We just have to sustain that for four quarters.”
No-Sky zone .. for a while
After going down 37-16 in the middle of the second quarter, the Valkyries switched to a 2-3 zone and dared the Sky to continue making 3-pointers.
With Chicago being one of the worst teams in the league, Nakase bet on the Sky being unable to do that. She was correct for a while. By allowing wings like Kayla Thornton, Salaun and Kaila Charles to plant themselves on the baseline right outside of the paint, the driving lanes that Chicago enjoyed early were suddenly closed up.
But Rachel Banham made the Valkyries pay with consecutive 3-pointers with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to put the Sky back on top 63-59. And then, with the game in the balance, Taylor’s two 3-pointers over the Valkyries — against man-to-man defense — was too much to overcome.
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Chicago finished the game 14 of 30 from behind the arc.
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