Golden State Valkyries (12-13) vs. Atlanta Dream (15-11) Postgame Notes
WNBA Golden State Valkyries

Golden State Valkyries (12-13) vs. Atlanta Dream (15-11) Postgame Notes

Published on July 29, 2025 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Golden State Valkyries News Release


Golden State Valkyries (12-13) vs. Atlanta Dream (15-11)

Golden State 77, Atlanta 75

By the Numbers

Cecilia Zandalasini started out 3-3 from three-point range, and tied a career high with 18 points. The forward scored the game-winning basket with three seconds left, her seventh field goal of the night, and added a career-high eight rebounds.

Tiffany Hayes scored 15 for her 13th double-digit scoring performance of the season. Hayes, who played 10 seasons with Atlanta after being drafted by the Dream in 2012, went 6-12 (50.0 percent) and 3-5 (60.0 percent) from three while tying a season-high five assists.

Veronica Burton added 10 points and four rebounds, and was 2-2 from the line which marks the 11th time this season she has been perfect from the line.

Carla Leite scored 12 points in 18 minutes off the bench, giving Golden State four players in double figures for the seventh time this season.

Golden State shot 11-20 (55.0 percent) in the 30-point third quarter, and went 7-13 (53.8 percent) from three. Hayes had nine points in the frame on 3-3 from deep, and Burton was also perfect from three-point range in the third (2-2).

The Valkyries shot 51.7 percent (15-29) from the field and 66.7 percent (4-6) from deep in the first half. This is the third time the Valkyries have shot 51.0 percent or better from the FG in the first half.

Burton (2-2), Hayes (3-3), Leite (2-2), Martin (1-1) and Zandalazini (3-3) each started out perfect from three-point range.

Golden State went 11-26 (42.3 percent) from three, which is its second highest three-point field goal percentage of the season. The 39 bench points are also the second most this season.

Quotes

HEAD COACH NATALIE NAKASE

ON TODAY'S GAME:

"Yes, great bounce back. We talked about playing with complete heart. We knew the physicality of Atlanta and their size was going to be a challenge. I thought we did a hell of a job just team-wise, being in the passing lanes, being physical without fouling. But the fouls ended up being 21 on us and 11 for them. I think that's a big gap, and then in terms of the free throws, they got 21 free throws and we only had eight, and I thought we were still attacking the rim. So just credit to our girls for staying resilient through all that discrepancy...So it's just like all these things, these obstacles, and we just stuck together. We kept believing, it was a great team win, and then obviously Ceci (Zandalasini) taking that shot."

ON CECILIA ZANDALASINI'S PERFORMANCE OFF THE BENCH:

"Yeah, just super reliable. I think that's what I talked about with K.T. (Kayla Thornton) and then now K.T. not being here, Ceci is now someone super reliable down the stretch. All of our players are, it's just that she was rolling tonight. I lean to Kasib (Powell), 'who should I draw this for?' He goes, 'hey, draw for Ceci,' and sure enough we drew a play. Everyone kind of either held space or they did what they were supposed to do so just credit for Ceci, man. That was a big-time shot."

ON ATLANTA'S FOURTH QUARTER:

"I think they got multiple free throws. So then it's just stopping, it's just coming down. We get no rhythm if we're constantly staring and stopping on their side of the court. But our girls kept believing, they kept staying organized. And what I loved is that they stayed composed throughout all that stop and go, the timeout of an object, the timeout of a discrepancy of Ceci now having an extra foul, I have never heard that before...So I just said, 'hey, let's keep playing, let's play on.' It's out of our control, and let's stay together and win the game."

GOLDEN STATE GUARD TIFFANY HAYES AND FORWARD CECILIA ZANDALASINI

ON THE GAME-WINNING SHOT:

Zandalasini: "Yeah, it was the action the coach drew on the board, so everybody just executed, and I was able to get space and take that shot."

ON CLOSING OUT THE GAME

Hayes: "I mean, we were talking about resilience, so it felt really good to do that, especially on the road, and without two of our big leaders. So kudos to us, it was a whole team win, and we handled business."

ON BOUNCING BACK ON THE ROAD:

Hayes: "We know that wasn't our team, but it happens. Things like that happen, but like you said, we responded to that and that's what matters, especially with us, so we wanted to learn from that last game and we did. We came here and we fought until the last buzzer knowing that it was a hard-fought game."

Up Next

Golden State plays in the lone WNBA game on Thursday, July 31 versus the Washington Mystics at 4:30 p.m. PT on KPIX, KMAX, Amazon Prime, and the Audacy App.

Check out the Golden State Valkyries Statistics

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