WASHINGTON — When I wrote about my love of the Golden State Valkyries on June 24, they were coming off two-straight losses, and their next four games were against either the Atlanta Dream (then 12-4) or New York Liberty (then 12-6).
I said:
It will be tough for them to remain in the contender conversation in the short term, but it’s a long season.
Well, the Valkyries went ahead and won all four of those games to prove me wrong. Then, they added a fifth-straight win Monday night to put them just a half
a game out of first place.
Two of the best defenses in the WNBA squared off Monday night at CareFirst Arena. Golden State’s was better, conceding a season-low-for-any-team 49 points to the Washington Mystics, while their offense managed 62 points. It was the fewest points allowed since the Dream held the Chicago Sky to 49 on July 16 of last year.
The Valkyries (15-7) weathered the storm of 3-point shooting woes by holding Washington (10-10) to 30 percent from the field, including 12.5 percent (3-for-24) from beyond the arc.
The Mystics have the second-worst efficiency from distance in the league, but are seventh in 2-point percentage and overall field goal percentage. Golden State, the top 2-point defense in the W, should be commended for holding Washington to 41.7 percent from 2-point range, comfortably below their already-stellar opponent clip of 45.4.
The Valkyries achieved this by clamping down on the Washington offense in the second half; the Mystics shot just 20 percent from inside the arc over the final two frames.
Here’s what Golden State head coach Natalie Nakase had to say about the shift:
In the second half, we locked in on the game plan. We didn’t do it so much in the first half. … We allowed 22 paint points in the first half. And then (our players) took another step, they communicated, they were earlier in their shifts, they ball-pressured. And so we kept them to eight in the paint. I was just really proud of them to really lock in on the game plan. Because we can control that. Not so much our shooting sometimes.
The Valkyries also benefited from turning the Mystics over; Washington is the worst in the league at taking care of the ball with 16.6 turnovers per game and was forced into 17 miscues on Monday. On the other end, the Valks coughed up the ball just six times, one of five performances of six or fewer turnovers in the W this season. They snagged 10 steals compared to just one for the Mystics.
Golden State is unafraid to live and die by the 3, and they got away with it on Monday because of their phenomenal defense. On the season, they are second in the league with a defensive rating of 101.7 and are comfortably in the lead for points per game allowed at 76.8.
Still, shooting 6-for-34 (17.6 percent) from distance is not ideal, and the Valkyries know they have work to do if they want to climb that last bit of the standings and reach first place.
Golden State’s second-worst 3-point outing kept things interesting
Sonia Citron, arguably the Mystics’ best player and a recently-named two-time All-Star, was absent for the second game in a row with knee soreness. Like I said when the Dream played Washington in this situation: The Mystics’ opponent needs to win with Citron out, especially teams as good as the Dream and Valkyries.
Well, Atlanta failed, and it seemed for a while like Golden State might too. Washington, which had held as much as a five-point lead earlier in the game, trailed by just three points after a Cotie McMahon triple with 2:33 remaining in the third quarter before the Valkyries started to pull away.
Missed 3 after missed 3 by Golden State kept the Mystics in the game. The Valkyries missed their first six attempts from long range before Kaitlyn Chen finally cashed in with 25 seconds to go in the first quarter. The team then shot 2-for-10 in both the second and third frames before closing with a 1-for-7 effort in the fourth.
However, their 34th and final attempt of the night proved to be the dagger. The league’s third-most prolific 3-point shooter, Janelle Salaün (53 makes on the season), hit from between the top of the key and the right wing to make it 62-49 with 1:05 left.
It was a comforting moment for Golden State after a mostly rough night. Salaün finished 2-for-9 (22.2 percent), while Kayla Thornton was 0-for-6, Veronica Burton was 0-for-3, and Gabby Williams, Cecilia Zandalasini and Kaila Charles were all 0-for-2.
This season, the Valkyries have only shot it worse from downtown once: They went 5-for-30 (16.7 percent) on the road against the Las Vegas Aces on June 21. That was their worst loss of the season, coming by 19 points.
On the positive side, Kaitlyn Chen and Tiffany Hayes both raised the team’s percentage with 1-for-3 showings. Meanwhile, Kiah Stokes was the lone Valkyrie with a truly good night from 3, as she went 2-for-4.
Kiah Stokes has become a real 3-point threat for the Valkyries
Stokes is a three-time WNBA champion with the Las Vegas Aces. She averaged 26 minutes and 7.5 rebounds per contest in 18 playoff games across the Aces’ 2022 and 2023 title-claiming campaigns. Her exceptional defense and rebounding made her the X factor for Vegas.
She helped the Aces achieve great success, with her lack of a 3-point shot never biting them in the end. But opposing teams would give her all the space in the world on the perimeter, creating more offensive hassle for Vegas’ scorers in A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray.
This year is Stokes’ first with Golden State, as she has been reunited with former Aces assistant Nakase. She has put in the work to ensure that she is not the same weak link on offense that she was in Vegas, shooting 12-for-31 (38.7 percent) from deep.
For most of her career, she hasn’t really even tried to shoot 3s. She did attempt 3.9 per game in 2020 as a member of the Liberty, but only converted at 23.5 percent. This is by far her most efficient season yet.
Here’s what Nakase had to say about Stokes’ work ethic:
She’s been putting a lot of time in with Kasib Powell—that’s who her positional coach is. So just shoutout to Kasib. They’re building this type of relationship where it’s like brother-sister. You can see that they’re connected. You can see like sometimes they’re just looking at each other—facial expressions is sometimes enough in terms of communication. So it’s really cool to see that.
And obviously the trust that everyone has when Kiah’s spacing the floor. I mean we’re just throwing it out, and she’s ready to shoot. So credit to her teammates for finding her, because that’s probably what she’s gonna do—she’s gonna give credit to her teammates.
But it’s Kiah’s hard work, just getting a ton of reps. And then working just on seeing it go through, holding her follow-through. She’s done an amazing job.
Kaitlyn Chen stepped up again, bailing out a struggling Golden State offense
Someone must have forgotten to tell Chen that third-round draft picks don’t usually make it in the WNBA. She has likely earned a steady spot in the league with her play this season.
On Monday, she was the game’s high scorer with 14 points; it was her seventh double-figure outing of the season. She did it on a game-high 66.7 percent from the field (6-for-9) and was also the contest’s leader in assists with four.
She scored seven key points in the fourth to help the Valkyries maintain their lead.
Chen broke into the scoring column with the aforementioned trey that was Golden State’s first. She followed that up with an off-hand, driving layup off a broken play that tied the game at 15 at the 8:33 mark of the second quarter. With 1:29 to go in the third, she nailed a mid-ranger from just in front of the free throw line, an important basket as it gave the Valkyries an eight-point lead and was part of a 12-0 run after which they led by at least 10 the rest of the way.
She capped the 12-0 stretch with a floater-turned-3-point play, making the score 55-40 at 8:12 in the fourth. She then converted on a transition layup to make it 57-42 at the six-minute mark. She further showed off her float game with a make at 3:39 that gave her team a 59-45 lead and capped her scoring for the night.
She is averaging 6.8 points in 14.2 minutes this season. Of Valkyries with at least five attempts, she leads the way in 3-point percentage at 46.4 on 28 attempts. Her offense was needed on Monday, as the next-highest-scoring Valkyrie, Hayes, only had nine points.
Kaila Charles has found a WNBA home in Golden State
Charles has always been a phenomenal athlete, so it’s really not surprising that she’s still in the W, especially now that she’s continuing to develop a 3-point shot that was absent in college.
But she, like Chen, was a late draft pick, and it wasn’t always clear that she would make it. She was a contributor on the Connecticut Sun in 2020 and 2021 after being drafted in 2020, but did little in 2022 and 2023 before not appearing in the league in 2024.
Then came 2025, when Charles was released by the Dallas Wings and signed multiple seven-day contracts with Golden State before finally signing for the rest of the season on August 22. She went on to sign a two-year, $1,215,000, protected contract this offseason.
Charles did all the little things in the last two Valkyries games.
On July 4 in Atlanta, she recorded eight rebounds, five assists and three steals. On Monday, she had a game-high three offensive rebounds, and all of them led to points. Two she turned into her own layups, while the third eventually led to the Chen mid-ranger that made it 48-40.
It’s those kinds of hustle plays that have undoubtedly endeared Charles to Nakase. The second-chance points were huge in a game where points were at a premium.
Charles offered the following postgame:
(Rebounding) is something I pride myself on. I’m a bigger guard. So being able to grab those extra possessions for our team is something that I want to do. That’s something that we focus on—crashing the glass. Especially us being so small, we want to be intentional with crashing.
So that’s just something that I know I do very well, and I can help the team get extra possessions and possibly more points.
With Charles averaging 19.5 minutes per game and making $600,000 this year, it’s clear she’s a big part of the Valkyries, and she can call San Francisco home at least through 2027.
She’s actually from Glenn Dale, MD, which is in the DC area, and she went to the University of Maryland. On Monday, her family was in attendance to see her thriving in her new WNBA role, and you could tell the night meant a lot to her.
It was a night for unsung Valkyries heroes
Golden State’s All-Star starter, Williams, played just 17 minutes, scoring two points. Meanwhile, Thornton played 15 minutes, about eight under her season average. Burton was in the game for 23 minutes, about five below her season-long average.
On the flip side, Stokes, Chen and Charles all played well above their average number of minutes.
Stokes was good for six points, nine boards and three blocks, improving her season average in swats from 1.9 to two (second in the league). Charles was a game-high plus-19 and registered eight points to go along with five total rebounds. Charles and Chen contributed to the Valkyries winning bench points 39-13.
Here’s what Nakase had to say about her second unit:
They’re all potential starters. They all know that they could start. … So it’s the humility that they lead with, knowing that they could. But also understanding their roles, buying into their roles and playing them.
Tonight I thought they were the more connected unit. And you could feel that, you could hear it. They were speaking so loud. … So just credit to our second unit. They played with a little bit more fire and passion.
