ARLINGTON, Texas – The craziest game the Valkyries have played all season did not go in their favor, and now their backs are against the wall.
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Gabby Williams’ best game as a Valkyrie didn’t matter because one of Dallas’ stars went off like no one has against the Valkyries all year, as the Wings beat Golden State 108-100 in overtime in Game 2 of their opening-round playoff series.
Arike Ogunbowale, who scored a WNBA-playoff record 45 points, hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 93 with 4.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter after the two teams traded haymakers throughout the quarter. After an offensive foul, a coach’s challenge and a locked-up jump ball, the game went to overtime, where Dallas outscored the Valkyries 15-8.
Williams scored a career-high 36 points with a career-high seven assists while Kaila Charles had 14 points off the bench and Kayla Thornton added 13 for the highest-scoring Golden State game of the year. The 108 points conceded were the most the Valkyries have allowed in their two-year history.
Ogunbowale fired an off-balance 3-pointer to begin overtime, matched by Williams’ triple with 2:26. A Tiffany Hayes loose ball foul after the trey turned into a flagrant on her and a tech against Ogunbowale, who pushed Hayes in response. Ogunbowale hit her two free throws and Hayes kept it tied at 100, while the Valkyries kept the ball.
But Thornton missed and Ogunbowale hit from deep on the next possession, which Golden State did not match this time.
“108 points, that’s completely uncalled for,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said. “So I think, yeah, I can communicate and demand more in timeouts quicker.“
Williams looked as locked in as she has been in a Valkyries uniform. She had 13 points in the first quarter alone, including a crowd-silencing 3-pointer right after Paige Bueckers had cut the deficit to four. She then drew a foul with a tough layup around Jessica Shepard to earn an and-one.
Dallas tied it at 22 before Hayes hit a pair of free throws and a late-quarter floater to give the Valkyries a 26-23 lead out of the opening frame.
The second quarter was a different story.
Janelle Salaun found Charles rushing to the rim and Veronica Burton repeated the same give-and-go with Salaun on the next possession to force a Dallas timeout just 56 seconds into the second quarter.
But Dallas did not repeat its second-quarter performance from Game 1. Alysha Clark hit a glass 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to tie it at 41 near the end of the frame before Odyssey Sims gave the Wings their first lead on a floater, 43-41.
The Wings led 50-45 at the half with a third 3-pointer from Clark to lead their 27-19 second frame. Dallas shot 6-for-8 from 3-point range, nullifying Golden State’s hot offensive start.
“Our energy was different,” Williams said of the performance. “I didn’t recognize this team. I don’t think any of us did.”
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Thornton scored Golden State’s first eight points of the third quarter while Dallas kept losing the ball, but its 3-point shooting stayed sharp with a 25-foot trey from Ogunbowale and a four-point play from Awak Kuier.
Charles, who had been quiet all night, hit a 3-pointer in the left corner and followed it with a transition, buzzer-beating layup to give Golden State a 74-72 lead going into the fourth quarter.
The teams traded the lead from there; another Ogunbowale bucket matched by a clutch triple from Salaun. Two free throws from Ogunbowale followed by a Charles layup off an offensive board. Odyssey Sims made free throws before Salaun hit from the mid-range.
Golden State went up by more than a single point with 3:32 left on a Williams fast-break assist to Charles, who forced a Dallas timeout.
Bueckers missed badly on a 3-pointer that would have put the Wings ahead and Williams went down and scored a mid-range basket to tie her season-high 26th and 27th points. Ogunbowale brought the Wings within 1 with the clock running out and Williams banked two more free throws, giving Dallas one last chance to tie with 14.6 left to play.
Golden State was noticeably sloppier with the ball than in Game 1, where it had a season-low four total turnovers. The Valkyries committed eight turnovers in the first half, which led to 12 Dallas points, mostly in transition where the Wings excel.
But because the Valkyries’ 3-point shot was on, they got away with some of their turnover tendencies and uncharacteristically porous defense, but Ogunbowale’s career showing buried them anyway.
“It was a dog fight,” Ogunbowale said. “They’re a really, really, really tough team to play. Like a really tough team. They beat us every single time in the regular season, so like we knew we had to come out strong.”
It was the second time the Valkyries went to overtime all season and the second time in just over a week after they lost in Portland in extra time on Sept. 22.
The Valkyries will face Dallas for Game 3 at Chase Center on Friday at 6 p.m., in an elimination game for both teams.
“We got one at home, and we got to bring our best,” Nakase said. “That was not our best.”
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