The Valkyries earn their spot in the WNBA Finals with an OT victory over the Aces and then face the Dream

LAS VEGAS (AP) — If the Aces recently set the standard by winning three of the past four titles, the Valkyries show that all the history of the WNBA these days doesn’t belong only to Las Vegas.

Golden State became the first expansion franchise to make the playoffs last season, and is now in its second-fastest year to reach the WNBA Finals.

Kayla Thornton scored 18 points to lead the deep, defensive Valkyries past the Aces 87-77 in overtime Friday night, sweeping the defending champions in three games.

“It’s special because it’s a special group,” said Gabby Williams, who scored 16 points for the Valkyries, including eight in overtime. “We’re close to having fans, but we haven’t had any love all season. Nobody believed in us, but it made us smile because we were like, ‘All we need is each other.'”

The second-seeded Valkyries will have home-court advantage and host No. 4 Atlanta starting October 17. The Dream swept New York earlier in the night, and the teams are now 22-0 in playoff history as they lead a 2-0 series.

It was the first time an Aces team coached by Becky Hammon had been swept in the playoffs. The last time Las Vegas had this experience was in the 2020 Finals, when the Bill Laimbeer-coached Aces were defeated in all three games by Seattle.

“I’m going to try to show up and live up to that (championship) standard every chance I get because, dammit, we created it,” Aces star A’ja Wilson said. “I feel like every year for us is championship or bust. So it’s a bust year for us, but at the same time, I’ll never lose sight of what we’ve done to this league and how we continue to move it forward.”

This series had a certain flavor of Aces on the winning side, from former Las Vegas assistant and now Golden State coach Natalie Nakase to players Kiah Stokes and Tiffany Hayes. They each scored 11 points and Stokes also grabbed 10 rebounds.

“I actually tried to walk through the tunnel with my head down because there are so many people that I consider family,” Nakase said. “Of course, Becky. She hired me. She’s the one who invited me to the W. The years I spent with her, I knew I was going to learn a lot.”

His familiarity with the opposing team certainly didn’t hurt.

Wilson, honored before the night’s game for winning an unprecedented fifth MVP, scored 21 points, but on 6-of-19 shooting for the Aces. She also had 10 rebounds, joining DeWanna Bonner as the only players with 1,300 points and 600 rebounds in the postseason.

Jackie Young added 18 points and Chelsea Gray 17.

A 17-point run propelled Golden State past the Aces for a 53-47. Las Vegas closed within one point at the end of the quarter, giving the Aces only seven points in the period.

The Aces led by six points late in the game before the Valkyries tied the score when Gabby Williams stole the ball from Wilson and Thornton finished with a transition layup to make it 69-69 with 1:50 left.

Golden State then took the lead on Veronica Burton’s 9-foot floater with 1:12 left. The Aces tied the score on Gray’s inbounds pass to Young with 27 seconds left and eventually forced overtime.

The extra period belonged entirely to the Valkyries, who outscored the Aces 16-6.

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