Valkyries Sweep Aces to Reach First WNBA Finals

Gabby Williams pulled up for a step-back jumper with 54.7 seconds left in overtime Friday night, and the Golden State Valkyries were on their way to their first WNBA Finals in the franchise's second season.

The final at Michelob ULTRA Arena was 87-77. That finished a 3-0 semifinal sweep of the Las Vegas Aces, winners of three of the previous four championships.

Golden State won overtime 16-6. Williams scored eight of her 16 points in those five minutes, and the Valkyries went 8-for-8 at the line in overtime, per the team's postgame notes. They were 20-of-22 for the night.

Williams missed a couple of shots late in regulation.

"Super excited for one, honestly," Williams said. "A little bit of relief, because we had just talked about how we kind of messed up the play that Jackie got the layup to tie it up. I was more just relieved, like, if we would have just had that stop, we wouldn't have had to do overtime. I obviously missed a couple buckets at the end there, so I'm happy that we got it done in overtime."

Williams finished 6-of-16 from the floor. Three of Golden State's 12 steals were hers, and Cecilia Zandalasini had three more.

Kayla Thornton led Golden State with 18 points and nine rebounds. She went 5-of-12 from the field and 6-of-7 from the line.

Kiah Stokes, scoreless through the first two games of the series, took five shots Friday and made all five. Her 11 points and 10 rebounds gave her the first playoff double-double of her career, per the Valkyries, and she added three assists, two steals, and three blocks.

Tiffany Hayes went over 500 career playoff points on an 11-point night off the bench.

Las Vegas led by nine at halftime. Chelsea Gray scored the Aces' first eight points of the second quarter and had 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting in 18 minutes by the break. Golden State never led in the first half.

In the third quarter, Hayes picked off an inbounds pass under her own basket and found Stokes for a transition layup, the first basket of a 17-0 run.

Thornton hit a 3-pointer from the left wing. Hayes added a 3-pointer and a layup, Kaitlyn Chen scored to give the Valkyries their first lead, and Chen then found Stokes for a corner 3-pointer that made it 53-47.

Las Vegas missed 12 shots in a row during the run and went more than seven minutes without scoring.

Seven points for the whole quarter tied the fewest the Aces have scored in a postseason quarter, and no opponent has scored fewer in a playoff quarter against Golden State.

Golden State showed defensive clips at halftime, Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said.

"In the third quarter we held them to seven," Nakase said. "We finally let loose. It was almost like we were tight in the first half, or distracted by the noise. Our response was to come closer, come tighter, huddle up, grab hands, and communicate."

"At halftime we talked about a couple things, and we knew it wasn't us — we weren't playing our best defense," Nakase continued. "We showed some clips and said, let's come out and be us, bring it up a level, communicate, and stick together. That's what we did in the second half."

Las Vegas went back in front in the fourth quarter. Williams then stole the ball, and Thornton finished in transition to tie the game at 69.

Veronica Burton followed with a contested go-ahead basket, two of her eight points. She also had six rebounds and four assists.

With the Valkyries up two, Stokes blocked an A'ja Wilson jumper. Golden State could not secure the rebound, and Jackie Young scored on the ensuing inbounds play to tie it.

Gray missed a shot at the end of regulation that she had made several times in the first half.

"Should have hit it," Gray said. "Everybody in the world probably thought it was going in. Me too. It was the shot I wanted. I've hit that shot a thousand times; it just didn't go my way. A lot of these opportunities and game winners are shots I made in the first half, so we're living with that."

Golden State then controlled overtime. Williams scored eight points in the extra period, and the Valkyries made all eight of their free throws.

Wilson led Las Vegas with 21 points and 10 rebounds on 6-of-19 shooting, a day after she was named the league's MVP for a fifth time.

Young scored 18 points. Gray finished with 17 points, five rebounds, and five assists, along with six of the Aces' 15 turnovers.

The Valkyries won Game 1 71-60 at Chase Center. In Game 2, also at Chase Center, Golden State won 83-81 behind Burton's late 3-pointer.

Golden State will have home-court advantage against the No. 4 seed Atlanta Dream, who swept the New York Liberty after an overtime win in Game 2.

Neither franchise has won a WNBA title.

Game 1 of the best-of-seven Finals is Oct. 17 at 3:30 p.m. ET at Chase Center on NBC and Peacock.