Valkyries (5-6, 3-3 CC) vs. Dallas (2-11, 1-5 CC) Commissioner's Cup Postgame Notes and Quotes

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WNBA Golden State Valkyries

Valkyries (5-6, 3-3 CC) vs. Dallas (2-11, 1-5 CC) Commissioner's Cup Postgame Notes and Quotes

June 17, 2025 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Golden State Valkyries News Release


Golden State 71, Dallas 80

By the Numbers

Golden State had four players in double figures, led by Monique Billings who had a season-high 18 points on 7-13 (53.8 percent) shooting. Billings also had a team-high seven rebounds in her first start of the season. Kayla Thornton recorded her 10th consecutive double-digit scoring performance with 17 points, and was 5-6 (83.3 percent) from the line. Laeticia Amihere went 6-7 (85.7 percent) from the field for a career-high 14 points. Amihere also had six rebounds. Veronica Burton added five assists, her third straight game of handing out five-or-more assists. Tiffany Hayes returned after missing the last four games due to injury with 10 points off the bench. The Valkkyries were out-rebounded, 39-28, their fewest rebounds recorded this season, and only got five on the offensive end. Golden State had a season-high six blocks on the night, led by Billings' two.

Quotes

HEAD COACH NATALIE NAKASE

ON TONIGHT'S EFFORT:

"That's what I'm trying to figure out with this group. I talked about just being super vulnerable, just be honest with me, what can I do better? And they just said we've got to do a better job fighting. So they took ownership and I said, 'hey, look, I'm gonna do whatever I can to make sure I put you guys in that fighting mode, whatever that helps to repair you guys ignite you guys.' But we also did talk about if we had to stay consistent with watching more film, especially on the flip side with recovery, because physically we looked like we had heavy, heavy legs. So whatever that looks like, not just meals and this, it's like we got to work on recovery as well."

ON THE ADJUSTMENTS NEEDED FOR THURSDAY VERSUS INDIANA:

"Effort. I mean, that is the epitome of who we are, is literally a defensive-minded team that loves to be physical, disrupt, pressure, take away the top scorers, that's kind of our identity. But if you don't have any effort, then that kind of becomes irrelevant. I mean, Paige (Bueckers) got 20 and Arike (Ogunbowale) got 19. That wasn't the game plan. So we've got to do the game plan but it's got to have effort behind it. You can have an amazing game plan but if we're not committed to the effort and the physicality, in which, again, five offensive rebounds, that's not who we are, and we're not going to win games that way."

ON HOW THEY CAN MOVE FORWARD:

"We don't want to forget it because obviously it feels painful right now. We talk about that, like this is part of our growing pains. We talked about short-term pain for long-term results. But I don't want to look at five (straight home games), I actually just want to look at Indiana. We're a team about being present, being where our feet are. So we've got to learn from this. It's kind of the best thing about losses, is you get to learn from all the things that you didn't do well, take that in, and then we've got to be ready for Indiana. Because Indiana, same thing with Dallas, they get up a floor fast. So if we don't have the legs, if I don't have the physical energy and the mental capacity, thenI'm not going to be setting them up. So I got to get them there."

FORWARDS MONIQUE BILLINGS AND KAYLA THORNTON:

ON BEING OUT-REBOUNDED TONIGHT:

Billings: "They just out-worked us, they out-hustled, they wanted it more...I just don't think we brought our best game, our consistent game that we have been playing, and that's something that we'll tighten up But hats off to Dallas, because they brought that energy, they brought the fight, they wanted it more."

ON THE ADJUSTMENTS NEEDED FOR THURSDAY VERSUS INDIANA:

Thornton: "I mean, we haven't really talked about that yet. We just got done playing. But I think just one thing, just controlling our energy, controlling the effort that we put out there, I think that was the big key for tonight. There's no way teams should out-rebound us, knowing what our identity is, that's what we should be doing every night to other teams. So, this is just, again, to reflect back on, kind of a wake up. We were kind of on a little high, and I think we were kind of too high. Now, we've got to come back to earth a little bit and just get back to work."

ON WHAT THEY LEARNED TONIGHT:

Thornton: "Shout out to Dallas, shout out to Paige (Bueckers) and Arike (Ogunbowale), and all the other ones. But I think it was just us. I think for us, we're a team where when we get stops and stuff like that, our offense flows; and when we're not active and we're not energetic and stuff like that, then it kind of pulls over to our offense, and then we get stagnant, and then we're not able to move the ball. So, it kind of starts off with defense. It starts with me, my energy, and bringing what I need to bring for my team to get going."

Up Next

The Valkyries return to Ballhalla to face the Indiana Fever on Thursday, June 19 at 7 p.m. on KPIX, KOVR, Amazon Prime, 95.7 The Game, and the Audacy App.

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