NBA

Golden State Valkyries at New York Liberty

· Women's National Basketball Association
Final
82 - 77

5-0, 3-0 Home

Stewart and Ionescu lift New York to 82-77 win over Golden State to remain unbeaten

Sabrina Ionescu cashes in on a 3 for New York

The teams met on Tuesday and New York routed expansion Golden State 95-67, jumping to a 17-point lead in the first quarter. The Valkyries were much more competitive two days later, giving the defending champions all they could handle.

New York took a 78-77 lead in the back-and-forth affair on two free throws by Stewart with 1:35 left. Golden State had a few chances to retake the lead, but missed three 3-pointers in the next 35 seconds. After a timeout, the Valkyries then had a 5-second call on the inbounds, giving the Liberty the ball back with 43.6 seconds left.

The Liberty (5-0) then ran the clock down on the next possession before Natasha Cloud drove the lane for a layup to make it 80-77 with 24 seconds left.

Golden State (2-3) had one last chance but Cecilia Zandalasini missed a potential tying 3-pointer and Cloud hit two free throws.

The game featured 20 lead changes and 16 ties.

Janelle Salaün led the Valkyries with 18 points and 13 rebounds.

New York had scored more than 90 points in each of its first four games, but couldn't do it against Golden State on Thursday. The Liberty fell one game short of tying the Las Vegas Aces as the only team in WNBA history to begin a season with five straight 90-point games, doing so in 2023. That team went on to win its second straight WNBA championship.

The Liberty were missing center Jonquel Jones, who was dealing with a rightt hamstring issue. This was the first of three games in four days for the Liberty, who play at Washington on Friday before hosting Connecticut on Sunday.

Actor Jackie Chan was at the game and met with Ionescu and Golden State head coach Natalie Nakase before the game. Nakase is the first Asian American head coach in WNBA history.

Regular Season Series

NY wins series 3-1

Recent Plays

4th 0.0 End of Game 77 - 82
4th 0.0 End of the 4th Quarter 77 - 82
4th 0.0 Golden State Valkyries offensive team rebound 77 - 82
4th 1.1 Stephanie Talbot misses 19-foot jumper 77 - 82
4th 4.1 Golden State Valkyries timeout 77 - 82

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/wnba/500/gs.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originGS https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/wnba/500/ny.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originNY
29-72 FG 23-61
40 Field Goal % 38
10-34 3PT 13-36
29 Three Point % 36
9-14 FT 23-27
64 Free Throw % 85
41 Rebounds 36
15 Offensive Rebounds 8
26 Defensive Rebounds 28
25 Assists 17
3 Steals 7
1 Blocks 5
13 Turnovers 13
3 Team Turnovers 1
16 Total Turnovers 14
0 Technical Fouls 0
0 Total Technical Fouls 0
0 Flagrant Fouls 0
23 Points Conceded Off Turnovers 15
4 Fast Break Points 17
30 Points in Paint 18
24 Fouls 20
4 Largest Lead 6

Game Information

Barclays Center

Location: Brooklyn, NY
Attendance: 14,951 · Capacity:

2025-26 Western Conference Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Minnesota - 11 W1 0.75 33
Golden State 1 12 W1 0.72727275 32
Las Vegas 2 13 W7 0.70454544 31
Dallas 6 17 W1 0.6136364 27
Portland 16 27 W1 0.38636363 17
Los Angeles 17 28 L2 0.36363637 16
Phoenix 17 28 L1 0.36363637 16
Seattle 25 36 L5 0.18181819 8

2025-26 Eastern Conference Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Atlanta - 14 W5 0.6818182 30
Washington 2 16 W4 0.6363636 28
Indiana 2 16 L1 0.6363636 28
New York 4 18 L2 0.59090906 26
Chicago 14 28 L1 0.36363637 16
Toronto 19 33 L8 0.25 11
Connecticut 19 33 W1 0.25 11
Full Standings

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