{"id":1963,"date":"2026-06-13T04:36:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T04:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963"},"modified":"2026-06-13T04:36:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T04:36:55","slug":"valkyries-instant-analysis-golden-state-survives-fourth-quarter-meltdown-against-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963","title":{"rendered":"Valkyries instant analysis: Golden State survives fourth-quarter meltdown against Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p><span>Valkyries star Gabby Williams had a short and blunt answer when asked about what she liked about her team\u2019s first half.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1961\">San Jose City Hall Celebrates 128th Philippine Independence Day<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cNothing. We need to do better,\u201d Williams said on the ION broadcast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>After a sluggish first half that left Williams unimpressed, Golden State answered the call in the second half. Despite following up a strong third quarter by nearly collapsing in the fourth, the Valkyries beat the Storm 76-72 to avoid a meltdown to one of the worst teams in the league.<\/span><span><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Janelle Sala\u00fcn came off the bench and scored a career-high 22 points. Williams added 19.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Valkyries shot 36% from the field and 22% from the 3-point line, but held Seattle\u2019s young frontcourt duo of Dominique Malonga and Awa Fam to just 17 points combined.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The home teams came out hot from the start, opening with an 18-8 run.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Golden State took a two-point lead at halftime, but it was not pretty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Valkyries shot 40% from the field and hit just four of their 19 3-point attempts. Veteran guard Natisha Hiedeman got going in the first half as she scored 13 of her game-high 26 points through the first two quarters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>But Golden State flipped the script in the third quarter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Led by a barrage of buckets from Williams and Sala\u00fcn, the Valkyries took a 66-53 lead going into the final 10 minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>With all the momentum, the Valkyries looked poised to cruise to an easy win. A few stops and a few buckets might have taken the young Storm\u2019s heart.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But somehow, the Valkyries went cold and the Storm kept fighting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Golden State didn\u2019t score a point through the first five minutes of the fourth quarter. Seattle meanwhile chipped away at the Valkyries\u2019 double-digit lead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1959\">Letters: Party philosophy drives most voters, not partisanship<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>With 50.3 seconds left, Malonga drew Sala\u00fcn\u2019s sixth foul and made two free throws to make the score 71-70.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On the next possession, Tiffany Hayes turned the ball over to give Seattle a shot at the lead. However, after the Valkyries got another stop, Hayes hit two free throws with 21.3 seconds left to give the Valkyries a three-point advantage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On the ensuing possession, Jade Melbourne\u2019s layup cut the Valkyries\u2019 lead back to one. Williams added two more points to the lead, hitting two clutch free throws.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On Seattle\u2019s last possession, starting center Kiah Stokes came up huge as she blocked Hiedeman\u2019s pull-up 3-point attempt and won the jump ball after the two players got tied up on the rebound.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Nakase switches it up<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span>The Valkyries desperately needed a spark after such a sluggish first half.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>After starting the game with Cecilia Zandalasini and Kayla Thornton, Nakase opted to replace the veteran forwards with Sala\u00fcn and veteran guard Tiffany Hayes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The duo helped the Valkyries make their third-quarter push, combining for 10 of Golden State\u2019s 26 points.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1957\">Five things to know about the 2026 San Jose budget<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite making just one field goal in the fourth quarter, Valkyries pull out close win<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Valkyries instant analysis: Golden State survives fourth-quarter meltdown against Storm - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Valkyries instant analysis: Golden State survives fourth-quarter meltdown against Storm - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite making just one field goal in the fourth quarter, Valkyries pull out close win\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-13T04:36:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1963#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1963\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Valkyries instant analysis: Golden State survives fourth-quarter meltdown against Storm\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-13T04:36:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1963\"},\"wordCount\":508,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1963#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/da352f7c721bcc5c3a25a8765c7e3636.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1963#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1963\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1963\",\"name\":\"Valkyries instant analysis: Golden State survives fourth-quarter meltdown against Storm - Next City Digest\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1963#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1963#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/da352f7c721bcc5c3a25a8765c7e3636.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-13T04:36:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1963#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1963\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1963#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/da352f7c721bcc5c3a25a8765c7e3636.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/da352f7c721bcc5c3a25a8765c7e3636.webp\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=1963#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Valkyries instant analysis: Golden State survives fourth-quarter meltdown against Storm\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Next City Digest\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Valkyries instant analysis: Golden State survives fourth-quarter meltdown against Storm - Next City Digest","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Valkyries instant analysis: Golden State survives fourth-quarter meltdown against Storm - Next City Digest","og_description":"Despite making just one field goal in the fourth quarter, Valkyries pull out close win","og_url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963","og_site_name":"Next City Digest","article_published_time":"2026-06-13T04:36:55+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b"},"headline":"Valkyries instant analysis: Golden State survives fourth-quarter meltdown against Storm","datePublished":"2026-06-13T04:36:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963"},"wordCount":508,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/da352f7c721bcc5c3a25a8765c7e3636.webp","articleSection":["Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963","url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963","name":"Valkyries instant analysis: Golden State survives fourth-quarter meltdown against Storm - Next City Digest","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/da352f7c721bcc5c3a25a8765c7e3636.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-13T04:36:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/da352f7c721bcc5c3a25a8765c7e3636.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/da352f7c721bcc5c3a25a8765c7e3636.webp","width":1024,"height":683},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=1963#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Valkyries instant analysis: Golden State survives fourth-quarter meltdown against Storm"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/","name":"Next City Digest","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/nextcitydigest.com"],"url":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}