The Golden State Valkyries are WNBA champions — in just their second season. The expansion franchise beat the Atlanta Dream 68-63 in the first Game Seven in WNBA Finals history at a sold-out Chase Center in San Francisco.
Gabby Williams was the hero, dropping 30 points — 28 of them in the second half — and claiming the WNBA Finals MVP award. After the Dream levelled the best-of-seven series on Thursday, Williams hit a go-ahead three-pointer with just over two minutes left before free throws from Tiffany Hayes and Veronica Burton sealed it. (Image Credits: BBC Sport)
Gabby Williams Powers the Valkyries to a WNBA Title
Williams’ second-half explosion turned a tight Finals decider into Golden State’s coronation. “It’s easy when the energy is this good and positive,” she said. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“All it took was good people. We have winners, we have people who are ready to put their bodies on the floor to win a game. They don’t care about scoring. They just want to do defence and rebounding. Do whatever it takes and we built a beautiful culture here.”
An Expansion Team’s Historic Rise
The Valkyries are the WNBA’s newest team, formed in 2024, and lifted the title in front of more than 18,000 fans at the Chase Center. Winning a championship in your second season is rare in any sport — doing it as an expansion franchise makes it one of the great debut stories in basketball.
For Atlanta, it was more heartbreak: the fourth Finals defeat in the Dream’s 18-year history.
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Source: BBC Sport — read the full story there.