Valkyries Win the WNBA Title in Year Two: Gabby Williams Scores 30 in a 68-63 Game 7 Win Over the Dream
Golden State became the fastest expansion team in major North American sports to win a championship, and Williams wrote the finish herself — 28 of her 30 points after halftime, a Finals record for a half, and the MVP trophy to close the league's first Finals Game 7.
The WNBA's first Finals Game 7 produced a first-of-everything champion. The Golden State Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream 68-63 on Saturday night at the Chase Center in San Francisco to win the franchise's first championship in just its second year of existence — the fastest any expansion team in the NBA, WNBA, NHL, MLB or NFL has ever won a title, CNN reported.
The game turned on one player's second half. Gabby Williams, who had scored two points before halftime, finished with 30 — 28 of them after the break, a record for a half in a WNBA Finals game and, per ESPN's Elias research, the most in any half of a postseason game in league history. She hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter, outscored Atlanta 15-14 in that quarter by herself at one stretch, and buried a 31-foot triple with just over two minutes left to put Golden State up three. She was named Finals MVP, having averaged 19.6 points across the seven games. 'I wasn't going to lose on Halloween,' Williams said afterward, via Sports Illustrated.
The supporting line held up its end: Tiffany Hayes scored 11, Veronica Burton 10, and Kiah Stokes led everyone with 13 rebounds, in front of a crowd of 18,000. Golden State did it, ESPN noted, without a single All-WNBA selection on the roster that season — an expansion team of other clubs' spare parts, champions in year two. Dallas's own Wings, and the rest of the league, now chase them.
