{"id":853896,"date":"2026-10-08T13:51:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T13:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/853896\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T13:51:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T13:51:34","slug":"not-in-our-house-valkyries-take-2-0-lead-in-wnba-semis-as-series-heads-to-vegas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/853896\/","title":{"rendered":"Not in our house: Valkyries take 2-0 lead in WNBA semis as series heads to Vegas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Golden State Valkyries beat the Las Vegas Aces tonight, 83-81, in Game 2 of the WNBA semifinals and for most of the game, it wasn\u2019t even close. Golden State took the lead in the first few minutes and entered the final quarter up by 11.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s when Vegas surged to take the lead with just over a minute to go. Nail-biter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was a Gabby Williams jump-shot and a Veronica Burton three that put the Valkyries back on top. The game came down to the final seconds which dragged on with free throws on both sides of the court. In the end, the Valkyries had time on their side, Kiah Stokes blocked a final shot and her team grabbed a final rebound for the win.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"460\" height=\"640\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2299138532.jpg\" alt=\"A basketball player in a white uniform leaps to shoot a ball while being defended by a player in a purple uniform numbered 41.\" class=\"wp-image-875372\"  \/>Kiah Stokes blocks the shot of Jackie Young during Game 2 of the Semifinals on October 7, 2026. Photo by Thearon W. Henderson\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Golden State is known for a style of play called \u201cThree and D\u201d which basically means they often rely on outside shooting and defense to win games. So when the first shot of the game was a three by Kayla Thornton that swooshed through the net \u2013 it was a good omen for the home team. When the Valkyries are making threes, they tend to win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through the game, though, the Valkyries only shot a little over 34 percent from deep. That Burton swoosh at the end could not have come at a better time for the home team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There was something about that Wednesday night crowd \u2014 even when it wasn\u2019t yet a close game \u2014 is it possible Ballhalla was louder than usual? It was, in no uncertain terms, lit.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2298513010.jpg\" alt=\"A crowd of spectators wearing matching purple shirts holding up white rally towels in an arena.\" class=\"wp-image-875371\"  \/>Golden State Valkyries fans celebrate during Game 2 of the 2026 WNBA Semi-Finals October 7, 2026. Photo by Jed Jacobsohn\/NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fan favorite Williams was scoring \u2013 she ended the game with 20.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tiffany Hayes, too, delivered double digit points off the bench, served up with a side of veteran confidence. Her ability to drive to the basket and score \u2013 no matter how many hands come down on her \u2013 has been an asset game after game. It didn\u2019t hurt that Hayes, who took more foul shots than anyone else on the team, was 8-for-8 from the foul line tonight.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The series heads to Vegas for Game 3. The Valkyries are one win away from securing a spot in the WNBA Finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Golden State Valkyries beat the Las Vegas Aces tonight, 83-81, in Game 2 of the WNBA semifinals&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,479,4705,8477,458],"class_list":["post-853896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-golden-state","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-valkyries","tag-wnba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117405620012300200","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}