{"id":5815,"date":"2026-07-30T06:07:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5815"},"modified":"2026-07-30T06:07:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:07:38","slug":"valkyries-blow-second-half-lead-lose-in-phoenix-without-all-star-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5815","title":{"rendered":"Valkyries blow second-half lead, lose in Phoenix without All-Star Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>The Valkyries lost hold of a 13-point lead in the third quarter to the Phoenix Mercury in a 91-89 loss on Wednesday night in the return from the All-Star break for both teams.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5813\">East Bay woman among those to be counted solidly in favor of gig work<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A pair of Phoenix runs in the second half turned the game around.<\/p>\n<p>The Valkyries led 64-51 after Laeticia Amihere made a layup with 1:45 left in the third quarter, but Kaleah Copper led a 9-0 run to tighten it entering the fourth. An 11-0 run led by Alyssa Thomas midway through the final quarter gave the Mercury the lead, and they never trailed again.<\/p>\n<p>Phoenix shot 43 free throws to the Valkyries\u2019 19 as Golden State was called for 34 fouls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to be able to adjust to the way the game is being called,\u201d Golden State guard Veronica Burton said. \u201cThere were a lot of fouls; we did foul a lot, so we need to be able to be aggressive and be physical without fouling, keeping our composure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cecilia Zandalasini fouled out with 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting for Golden State (19-9). Burton added 15 points and Kaila Charles had 10 points and a season-high 10 rebounds, her second career double-double and her first since 2021. Janelle Sala\u00fcn made two of her five 3-point attempts, reaching 69 made 3s on the season to break the WNBA\u2019s record for a bench player.<\/p>\n<p>Charles started in the place of All-Star Gabby Williams, who sat out the first game after the league\u2019s break for conditioning.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5811\">Gilroy man arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a third victim<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a great experience for us to have games like this on the road, battling,\u201d coach Natalie Nakase told reporters postgame. \u201cI thought everyone stayed intently into it towards the end. I just would love a better start. We just have to start better and we have to defend without fouling.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thomas had 25 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, Copper scored 27 and DeWanna Bonner added 17 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks for the Mercury (11-18). They have won three straight following a five-game losing streak.<\/p>\n<p>Copper was called for her sixth foul with 1:45 to play, the Mercury challenged and, after replay review, the call was upheld. Nine seconds later, Kayla Thornton hit a 3-pointer that tied it at 82, but Bonner answered with two free throws with 1:27 remaining to take the lead for good.<\/p>\n<p>Sala\u00fcn had a chance to tie it after being fouled on a 3-point attempt late, but missed her last free throw of the trio. With 5.6 seconds left, she was fouled again on a 3 with Golden State trailing by four, but made all three free throws, banking in the third to miss out on a rebound opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>Golden State, which lost at home to Washington last time out, has lost back-to-back games, falling a half-game behind second-place Las Vegas. The Valkyries return home Sunday night for a game against the Toronto Tempo, the expansion team\u2019s first visit to the Bay Area.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5809\">Bicyclist in critical condition following collision in San Jose<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A pair of Phoenix runs in the second half turned the game around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5815","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 blow second-half lead, lose in Phoenix without All-Star Williams - 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=5815\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Valkyries blow second-half lead, lose in Phoenix without All-Star Williams - 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