Valkyries (3-5, 1-2 CC) vs. Aces (4-3, 1-1 CC) Commissioner's Cup Postgame Notes and Quotes

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WNBA Golden State Valkyries

Valkyries (3-5, 1-2 CC) vs. Aces (4-3, 1-1 CC) Commissioner's Cup Postgame Notes and Quotes

June 7, 2025 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Golden State Valkyries News Release


Valkyries (3-5, 1-2 CC) vs. Aces (4-3, 1-1 CC) Commissioner's Cup Postgame Notes, Quotes and Links

Golden State 95, Las Vegas 68

By the Numbers

Golden State once again drew a sell-out crowd of 18,064 for the fourth consecutive home game. The Valkyries lead the league in average home attendance at 18,064 per game.

Golden State scored 95 points on 47.9 percent (34-71) shooting, 35.7 percent (10-28) from deep, and 94.4 percent (17-18) from the free-throw line, all season bests. The Valkyries also posted season highs in total rebounds (43) and margin of victory (27), and a season-low 12 turnovers.

Kayla Thornton scored a career-high 22 points on 8-16 shooting (50.0 percent) with 11 rebounds for her second double-double of 2025 and seventh of her career.

Monique Billings scored 14 points, seven of which came in her first nine minutes of action, and added 11 rebounds for her 17th career double-double.

Veronica Burton also registered a double-double, the first of her career. Burton scored 14 points and handed out a career-best 12 assists, and recorded seven rebounds.

Cecilia Zandalasini added a career-high 18 points on 5-9 (55.6 percent) including 75.0 percent (3-4) from three-point range.

Kate Martin scored 12 points off the bench, and ended the first half with a deep pull-up three, putting Golden State up 21.

Golden State's defense started out strong, holding Las Vegas to just 33.3 percent (5-15) from the field and 14.3 percent (1-7) from deep while forcing seven turnovers in the first quarter. The Aces scored just 13 points in the first frame, which is the fewest points allowed by the Valkyries in a first quarter this season.

Golden State held Las Vegas to a season-low 28 points in the first half.

The Valkyries scored 34 points in the second, their most points scored in a quarter this season. Golden State shot a blistering 62.5 percent (10-16) from the floor and 55.6 percent (5-9) from three-point range in the second.

Golden State assisted on 24 of 34 made field goals.

It's the first time in the WNBA this season a team has had three players post double-doubles in the same game, and third time over the last two seasons (Indiana on 7/12/2024 and New York on 8/20/2024).

It's the Valkyries first Commissioner's Cup victory.

Quotes

HEAD COACH NATALIE NAKASE

ON TODAY'S BIG WIN:

"Just credit to the players. We know when we come, like we call it kill mode, (2:00) when that ball goes up and we're in kill mode, like we know what we're capable of. So that's kind of what you saw tonight.

Credit to my staff, this was Kasib Powell's scout, he did a great job scouting. So credit to the staff being prepared, and then obviously the players just taking on the onus of executing."

ON THE BALL MOVEMENT TODAY:

"They just make the right play. You know, it's (the gameplay) always the same. As much as you guys can believe or not believe, it's always the same offense. It's our flow, It's making the right reads. But because we were able to get easy ones and feel-good ones, is because (of) our defense. So our defense ignited obviously our transition. V (Veronica Burton) found KT (Kayla Thornton) early.I thought KT started us off amazing, she just was super confident. She walked right into her threes, she's aggressive attacking players, and so just a great start with just a ton of confidence."

ON GOING UP AGAINST BECKY HAMMON:

"We embrace each other. She said, 'great job,' and I literally said, 'I learned everything from you.'

She's the reason why I'm here. We talked about it prior, about me taking this job, was to have her complete support. She literally had to push me to interview. So again, I would not be sitting here and being as confident as I am as a head coach if it wasn't for Becky (Hammon)."

GUARD VERONICA BURTON AND FORWARD KAYLA THORNTON

ON GOLDEN STATE'S GAMEPLAN:

Burton: "The game plan is the game plan, and our coaches have put us in a great position to succeed every single game. It just comes down to our energy level, our effort level, and when we set the tone defensively it's a game changer for us. I really give a lot of credit to KT (Kayla Thornton) because I think her steadiness throughout the course of the game just kept us calm, and when she's calm and when she's focused, we follow her lead. So, a big testament to her, but also we were bought in. A goal of ours was to overcommunicate and dictate the pace of the game and I think we did a pretty solid job of that from the start."

ON WHAT CONTRIBUTED TO THE VALKYRIES' ENERGY:

Thornton: "Yeah, I think we're just hungry. I'm not used to losing like that, coming from where I came from. So we kind of just stayed with it. It was just another opportunity to get to play the game of basketball, and we just came out and we kind of changed a few things that we hadn't been doing the last game. It's a testament to just sticking together and just going through the growing pains, and we've got to take this as momentum and keep going with it."

ON GOLDEN STATE'S DEFENSIVE GAMEPLAN AGAINST LAS VEGAS' A'JA WILSON:

Thornton: "Yeah, phenomenal player, I mean the best in this league, but our post players did a tremendous job holding her, and I think together we did a great job doing the game plan that we wanted on her, and we stuck with it, and she still scored, but we kind of slowed her down and that was the job."

Up Next

The Valkyries hit the road on Monday, June 9 to take on Los Angeles in another Commissioner's Cup game at 7 p.m. on KPIX+, KMAX and the Audacy App.

Check out the Golden State Valkyries Statistics



Women's National Basketball Association Stories from June 7, 2025


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