Postgame Notes: Golden State Valkyries (11-13) vs. Connecticut Sun (4-20)
WNBA Golden State Valkyries

Postgame Notes: Golden State Valkyries (11-13) vs. Connecticut Sun (4-20)

Published on July 27, 2025 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Golden State Valkyries News Release


Golden State Valkyries (11-13) vs. Connecticut Sun (4-20)

Golden State 64, Connecticut 95

By the Numbers

Iliana Rupert paced Golden State with 13 points on 5-7 shooting (71.4 percent) from the field and 3-4 (75 percent) from deep.

Veronica Burton added 10 points and three assists. Burton went 6-7 (85.7 percent) from the free-throw line.

Janelle Salaün and Kate Martin each had nine points. Martin made three three-pointers off the bench for the Valkyries.

Temi Fágbénlé added seven points and four rebounds in her 18th start of the season.

Golden State had 15 assists on 20 made baskets on the day.

Quotes

HEAD COACH NATALIE NAKASE

ON TODAY'S GAME:

"I just give Connecticut credit. They played really hard today, they played with a lot of energy. It just wasn't our night. We were missing free throws, layups, that's kind of, to me, out of character, and so, when I see that happen I kind of understand it wasn't our night. Hats off to Connecticut, they played really well."

ON THE TAKEAWAYS FROM TODAY:

"Yeah, I've got to do a better job. I told them I put this on myself. I have to do a better job of navigating this type of west coast to east coast trip. How can I do better? How can I teach you guys how to manage waking up at 9 o'clock in the morning, and what does that day look like? I just kind of gave them the day to recover, but maybe they need more instruction. So I put it on myself, because I've been through it already."

ON GETTING BETTER ON THE ROAD:

"Yeah, I can just put it back on me. I have to just do a better job of organizing this day in between and maybe giving them more direction on how this day works out rather than just saying, 'hey, you guys can rest and recover on your own.' So, I'm learning that, they're learning me, and what I've learned, too, is I think more instructions is better for them."

GOLDEN STATE GUARD VERONICA BURTON AND FORWARD JANELLE SALAÜN

ON TODAY'S GAME:

Burton: "I think our effort and energy was pretty embarrassing from a standards standpoint. We know, obviously, it's an early game, travel, whatever, but we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard on both sides of the basketball. 95 points is insane, credit to Connecticut, they had a phenomenal game and they shot really well and they did what they needed to do. But we have a lot to clean up and, again, we learned from it. We have another game coming up, so we move on."

ON THE IMPACT OF TRAVEL ON TODAY'S GAME:

Burton: "It doesn't matter. We need mental toughness. Everyone has a hard schedule, everyone has hard travel. So if that's going to be our excuse, then it's not going to work out for us. So it really doesn't matter."

ON THE TURNOVERS:

Salaün: "There's so many turnovers that we can control better. They were closing the paint a lot, and I felt like at some point we forced too much and we just had to kick it out. So there's a lot that we can take out because anyway, even if we did a good game, like 22 turnovers is way too much to win a game."

Up Next

Golden State continues its road trip on Tuesday, July 29 against Atlanta at 4:30 p.m. PT on KPIX, KMAX, 95.7 The Game, and the Audacy App.

Check out the Golden State Valkyries Statistics

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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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