Golden State Valkyries (23-20) vs. Seattle Storm (23-21) Postgame Notes and Quotes
WNBA Golden State Valkyries

Golden State Valkyries (23-20) vs. Seattle Storm (23-21) Postgame Notes and Quotes

Published on September 10, 2025 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Golden State Valkyries News Release


Golden State 73, Seattle 74

By the Numbers

Janelle Salaün led the team with a career-high 22 points, and recorded a career-high five three-pointers on 5-7 (71.4 percent) shooting from deep, and 8-13 (61.5 percent) from the field.

Veronica Burton had 14 points and 10 assists for her fifth career double-double (all points-assists double-doubles).

Kaila Charles added 12 points and a season-best nine rebounds. Charles was also 5-5 from the free throw line.

Temi Fágbénlé posted 14 points on 6-13 (46.2 percent) from the floor, and had six rebounds.

Iliana Rupert was a team-best +9 on the night, and had six points on two three pointers.

Monique Billings had all five of Golden State's bench points.

Quotes

HEAD COACH NATALIE NAKASE:

ON TONIGHT'S LOSS:

"Just disappointment in myself. I don't think I handled the game very well. Just schematically, I thought I could do a better job."

ON THE DEFENSE:

"Defensively, it's not great, because we allowed them to score 21. But I liked our fight coming out in the third quarter. That was good. We had a great third quarter. Defensively we started out great, but we just have to continue to execute and understand every possession matters. And to me, kind of lost a little bit on the rebounding. So that's something that I have to be mindful of who am I putting in. What are the matchups down the stretch? I can't make any errors down the stretch."

ON THE MINDSET THIS WEEK AND GOING INTO THE POSTSEASON:

"Yeah, rhythm and rest, to me, are the biggest key right now to go into playoffs; and our lock-in factor of what it takes to play in a playoff game. Today it did feel like that, the physicality, the crowd, being connected. I think at times when we didn't get the rebound, we were a little bit disconnected, because now you're almost playing like transition defense off of offensive rebound. So what we can control, we got to take a look and get better at it. But to me, it's rhythm and rest. So however best I can do that. I've got to be very intentional within the next 48 hours."

GOLDEN STATE GUARD VERONICA BURTON AND FORWARD JANELLE SALAÜN

ON SEATTLE'S DEFENSE IN THE FOURTH:

Burton: "They're a solid defensive team, they're physical the entire game. We missed some layups around the rim, they're long, they're lengthy. Yeah, shots weren't falling, 12 points is tough."

ON BATTLING PAST THE PHYSICALITY IN THE SECOND QUARTER:

Salaün: "We just got back to what we know our identity is. Better defense, rebound the ball after their shots weren't falling."

ON THE TAKEAWAYS FROM TONIGHT:

Burton: "Controlling your controllables, doing what we talked about doing, playing our basketball. Obviously (the next game) it's important for seeding, so we need to all understand that and be on the same page about it and get the job done."

Up Next

Golden State wraps up the regular season at top-seeded Minnesota on Thursday, September 11 at 5:00 p.m. PT on KPIX, KMAX, KION and the Audacy App.

Check out the Golden State Valkyries Statistics

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Women's National Basketball Association Stories from September 10, 2025


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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