Golden State Valkyries (22-18) vs. New York Liberty (24-17) Postgame Notes
WNBA Golden State Valkyries

Golden State Valkyries (22-18) vs. New York Liberty (24-17) Postgame Notes

Published on September 3, 2025 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Golden State Valkyries News Release


Golden State Valkyries (22-18) vs. New York Liberty (24-17) Postgame Notes, Quotes and Links

Golden State 66, New York 58

By the Numbers

The Valkyries recorded their 20th sellout of the season, and have sold out every home game at Chase Center this year.

Temi Fágbénlé shot 70.0 percent (7-10) from the floor for a team-high 16 points, one away from tying her career high.

Kate Martin got all 11 points in the second quarter, shooting 3-6 (50.0 percent) from three-point range.

Monique Billings returned to action, her first game since July 29, scoring five points and three rebounds.

Janelle Salaün added 10 points and three boards in the start.

Veronica Burton had nine assists and nine rebounds, and was +16 in the contest.

Kaila Charles posted her fifth double-digit scoring performance as a Valkyrie with 10 points on 4-6 (66.7 percent) shooting.

Golden State held New York to just 26 points in the first half, the fewest scored by the Liberty in a first half this season. The 58 scored is a season low by New York.

This victory marks Golden State's fourth straight win overall, including third consecutive at Ballhalla.

Quotes

HEAD COACH NATALIE NAKASE:

ON THE DEFENSIVE EFFORT TONIGHT:

"I think we're continuing to climb. I think our communication has been elite over the last three games, and I think when we're communicating and we're extending the game plan, we're pretty dangerous, so credit to the coaching staff. It was Landon's (Tatum) scout, and then just credit to our players for believing, trusting, and executing. That was a very tough team, very talented, so we knew we couldn't make any mistakes on the defensive end. No room for error tonight."

ON MONIQUE BILLINGS' RETURN:

"Her energy. You could feel it, you could feel her energy her physicality. I think inside defending without fouling was really good; and just her vocal like leadership. You can hear calling out the coverages so it's just nice to have the communication from behind because then you can feel good. If you know that the communications coming from behind you could almost press up even more into the ball. Mo brings so much to us, we're really glad to have her back; and she looks great. That's what I was saying, is you don't want to rush players back. You want to make sure they're confident and they're ready. So credit to everyone who helped Mo get back to where she is."

ON HOW THE DEFENSE IMPACTS THE OFFENSE:

"We've been building that since day one in training camp. Training camp the whole day was only defense, and so that was the identity that we built, was our defense was going to be what we hang our hats on, and our defense was what's going to travel on the road. Our defense is going to be what we rely on every night, it was going to be how we're gonna win games if we win the game. So with that type of mindset, it was just constantly focusing drills, post-practice drills, film. We were constantly trying to feed them more information on the defensive end. So with that type of force feed, they're gonna have to learn how to play. They don't even have to learn, they love defense. You could tell our players are tough.

They're gritty, and when you have tough gritty players that like to communicate and get stops together. I think that definitely has built who we are, and I think that's why we have won22 games because of it, because of our defense."

GOLDEN STATE CENTER TEMI FÁGBÉNLÉ AND GUARD KATE MARTIN

ON KAILA CHARLES' DEFENSIVE PERFORMANCE TONIGHT:

Martin: "First of all, she's crazy athletic, but she also just works extremely hard. It's the way she communicates and just gets over screens and works. You can't teach that, and so I think it's just really impressive and a testament to who she is, and it's easy to play with somebody who's going to give 100% every single time. She knows her strengths and weaknesses really well, and she plays to her strengths, and she knows that if she gives her all on the defensive end, it's going to flow to the other end. But she was impressive tonight;

Fágbénlé: " It's good when you know what to expect because she's such a solid body. If you've ever touched her, it's like rock hard."

ON TONIGHT'S CROWD:

Martin: "I mean, I think there was definitely a lull there in the third quarter. We weren't scoring, and there were a lot of fouls on both ends; and so the fact that our crowd stayed with it and stayed consistent, as they always do, it really helps us. It really gives us an extra boost of energy, especially when we haven't hit a basket and a few possessions, them being there and cheering, supporting us still. They are the sixth man of the year for sure... Then down the stretch, whenever we knew that the game was coming to a close, just hearing them getting so excited and staying to the buzzer, we feel super grateful we get to play in front of a crowd like that every night."

ON HOW THE TEAM SUPPORTS EACH OTHER THROUGHOUT THIS HOMESTAND:

Fágbénlé: " It's really great to be on this team because anyone can go off. We are so supportive of each other, of whoever goes off. It's not like, oh, I didn't go off today but we won. Are you kidding? This is the best thing ever. It doesn't matter who steps up, we won the game. It's like we all give each other that support, that energy, the happiness, the positivity."

Up Next

Golden State continues its homestand against the Dallas Wings at 7 p.m. on KPIX+, 95.7 The Game and the Audacy App.

Check out the Golden State Valkyries Statistics

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