Gabby Williams Scores 26 as Valkyries Beat Dream, 68-64, in Game 1 of WNBA Finals

Gabby Williams made all four of her free throws over the last 1:18 on Saturday at Chase Center. They were the final 4 of her 26 points, and the Golden State Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream 68-64 to open the best-of-seven WNBA Finals.

Atlanta was up 64-61 with 3:12 to play after Rhyne Howard made two free throws. The Dream never scored again.

Angel Reese picked up her fourth foul on Williams right after a rebound with 1:18 left, and the two free throws put Golden State in front 65-64 for good. Kiah Stokes split a pair after Reese's fifth foul with 23.8 seconds left, then Howard fouled Williams on purpose with 4.1 seconds to go and she made two more.

In 33 minutes, Williams had 26 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists and finished a plus-16. She shot 8-of-22 from the field, 3-of-11 from 3-point range, and 7-of-8 at the line, and no teammate reached double figures.

For Williams, the last three minutes were a test of the defensive habits the Valkyries have built since the regular season.

"Even though we were down, I think with a few minutes left, I think we had the game right where we wanted it because it just came down to getting stops," Williams said. "That's been our bread and butter all season. That's why we harp on so much because we've built great defensive habits for these moments."

Golden State outrebounded Atlanta 41-35 and won the offensive glass 12-7.

Kaila Charles grabbed a playoff career-high 10 rebounds. Stokes had 9 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 blocks, which tied her playoff career high. The Valkyries finished with 10 blocks and 7 steals.

The Valkyries opened 0-for-8 from 3-point range and finished 7-of-33. Atlanta shot 4-of-25 from behind the arc.

Kaitlyn Chen tied the game at 11 on a driving finger roll at 3:22 of the first quarter. Thirty-four seconds later, with the shot clock running out, she banked in a 3 from the left wing. That capped a 9-0 run and put Golden State up 14-11.

Atlanta took the rest of the quarter, scoring the last 11 points. Reese had 9 of those and went 5-of-6 from the field for 11 in the period. It was 22-14 Dream after one.

Williams went 0-for-4 in the first quarter. She scored 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the second, and her last 7 points finished a 10-0 run that gave Golden State the lead: a layup off a ghost screen at 2:32, a go-ahead corner 3 in semi-transition at 1:52, and a steal she took coast to coast for a left-handed layup at 1:29.

According to the Valkyries, the 16 points tied for the third-most in a quarter in Finals history. Only Jackie Young, with 21, and Angel McCoughtry, with 19, have scored more.

Allisha Gray's two free throws with 1:06 left made it 42-39 at the half.

The Valkyries went 4-of-25 in the third quarter and still led 51-50 after a Laeticia Amihere layup with 2:58 left.

Atlanta scored the last 6 points of the period, and Gray's turnaround jumper with 8.8 seconds left made it 56-51.

During one timeout, the staff told the players what it wanted to run and asked whether they agreed, Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said.

"Composure. That's kind of what it's gone down through in terms of the regular season," Nakase said. "We weren't very composed early on, and you could see us continuing to build, continuing to build trust in each other, especially coming, too, from the staff in terms of making sure we are organized, so we know what we are going to do towards the end."

"That's what was really cool is there was no doubt on who we were going to go to, what play," Nakase continued. "They were very confident in what we're running."

Gray led Atlanta with 19 points in her first game since injuring her left ring finger on Oct. 4 in Game 1 of the semifinals against the New York Liberty.

She shot 5-of-19 from the field, 1-of-8 from 3-point range, and 8-of-8 at the line. Gray missed all 7 of her shots in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer with 9 seconds left that would have put Atlanta ahead, The Associated Press reported.

Reese's 14 points and 12 rebounds included 5 offensive boards, but she did not make a field goal after the first quarter, missing all 5 of her attempts.

Howard took 14 shots to get her 12 points. Jordin Canada handed out 7 assists, every one of them before halftime, to go with 8 points and 5 rebounds.

Atlanta's only fourth-quarter field goals were a Naz Hillmon layup and a 14-foot Canada bank shot, on 19 attempts.

Dream coach Karl Smesko said his team hit a couple of dry spells against a defense that does not give up easy shots.

"Obviously a tough finish for us," Smesko said. "I think it's kind of the game everybody expected. It was two teams competing as hard as they can. Unfortunately, we had kind of one bad defensive quarter where we had a few breakdowns, and then one bad offensive quarter in the fourth where we kind of turned it over and didn't have the kind of shot quality that we wanted."

"But I'm really proud of our team's effort," Smesko added. "I like the way that we approached things. Now we're just going to have to watch some film, make some adjustments and come out and compete again as hard as we possibly can. We obviously want to leave here winning Game 2."

Atlanta scored 8 points in the fourth quarter.

Tiffany Hayes left in the final minutes after hitting her face on the floor while diving for a loose ball with 2:38 left, and Nakase said she would know Hayes' status when the medical staff told her.

The loss ended Atlanta's franchise-record 10-game winning streak. The No. 4 seed Dream had gone 5-0 in the playoffs, beating the Washington Mystics 2-0 and the Liberty 3-0.

In their second season, the No. 2 seed Valkyries beat the Dallas Wings 2-1 in the first round before they swept the defending champion Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals. They are 5-0 at Chase Center this postseason.

Monday's Game 2 tips off at 8 p.m. ET at Chase Center on USA Network and Peacock.

The series then shifts to Atlanta, where the Dream moved Games 3 and 4 to State Farm Arena.