Valkyries (7-7) vs. New York (11-3) Postgame Notes and Quotes

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WNBA Golden State Valkyries

Valkyries (7-7) vs. New York (11-3) Postgame Notes and Quotes

June 26, 2025 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Golden State Valkyries News Release


Golden State 78, New York 81

By the Numbers

For the eighth consecutive game, Golden State drew a sell-out crowd of 18,064 fans.

Kate Martin posted a career-high 21 points and was 4-7 (57.1 percent) from three-point range in the fourth quarter, including a big three with 12.2 seconds left that brought the Valkyries within one. It's the seventh 20-point performance by a Valkyrie this season.

Stephanie Talbot scored the first five points for Golden State, and had a season-high 13 in the contest on 5-7 (71.4 percent) shooting, including 3-5 (60.0 percent) from deep.

Tiffany Hayes had 12 points in the first quarter, and 15 on the night with five rebounds.

Kayla Thornton added 11 points and seven rebounds, six of which came on the defensive end.

Veronica Burton handed out 10 assists, her second double-digit assist performance of the season, and scored seven points.

Monique Billings added seven rebounds in her fourth start of the season.

Golden State went 6-10 (60 percent) from three-point range in the first quarter, en route to scoring 32 points which are the most in a first quarter this season.

After scoring 21 in the first half, the Valkyries limited Liberty forward Breanna Stewart to just two points in the second half on 1-5 (20.0 percent) shooting. Golden State also held Sabrina Ionescu to 11 points in the game, including one point in the first half. Her 11 points are the second fewest she's scored this season.

Golden State held New York to 36.1 percent shooting (26-72), just the second time they've been held under 40.0 percent from the field (also Golden State - 37.7 on 05/29/2025).

Quotes

HEAD COACH NATALIE NAKASE

ON TONIGHT'S PERFORMANCE:

"There's some things we have to get right. But yeah, I do agree with Kate (Martin), we don't care what the score ended up being or whoever, we want to win; and you can feel it with our players, and that's what I love about our players. But no, we let them score 46 in the first half, so we hit 21. That wasn't part of the game plan. So for us, we had to clean that up, and then obviously we made the adjustment at halftime, and they were position-wise, body-wise, they were in the right exact spots, but they just weren't there in the first half. So to me, I'll never always put it at the end of the game with the one shot, the possessions in the first and second, to me, were the ones where we slipped. So yeah, I credit to the girls that they made the adjustments at half."

ON THE SECOND-HALF ADJUSTMENTS AGAINST BREANNA STEWART:

"Yeah, just being more physical. We just kind of let her walk right into the paint... made the adjustment at halftime, and they were great, they were great in the second half. We held them to 35, like you said, held Stewie to two in the second half."

ON LIMITING SABRINA IONESCU OFFENSIVELY:

"Yeah, K.T. (Kayla Thornton) had multiple people. K.T. matched up with her, Tip (Tiffany Hayes) matched up with her, Kate (Martin) took a couple times. So just having multiple matchups, being physical, not letting her get into rhythm. Like I said, she's an elite scorer, so people who, you know, could score at all three levels, especially from deep, you wanna make sure you keep her out of rhythm as best as we can."

FORWARD STEPHANIE TALBOT AND GUARD KATE MARTIN:

ON THIS GAME COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS MATCHUP VERSUS NEW YORK:

Martin: "I'm definitely proud of this team's fight from start to finish. You know, it's hard whenever there are close games like this because there's things that you could have done to help you win.But looking on the bright side of things, I thought everybody battled the entire time, and we gave it our best effort, and we made a lot of second half adjustments, and we executed down the stretch.So there's a lot of positives to take away."

ON WHAT KATE MARTIN SAW FROM NEW YORK'S DEFENSE:

Martin: "Yeah, I don't know. They were really emphasizing our defense, and I was just trying to play good help and help out on Stewie (Breanna Stewart), and Sabrina (Ionescu), and everybody who was getting downhill; and then it just led to offense and my teammates found me open. I was ice cold in the first half, and so shout-out to them for continuing to pass me the ball, and so it just feels good to knock down shots."

ON LIMITING SABRINA IONESCU OFFENSIVELY:

Talbot: "Yeah, I think our guards really made her work for everything she got tonight. They fought over every screen, made every shot she took tough. So it's a testament to them for making her work hard. I think in the first half, we let Stewie (Breanna Stewart) do a little bit of whatever she wanted, and we really emphasized fixing that in the second half, and we made adjustments and I think our defense really went up a notch."

Up Next

The Valkyries continue the homestand against Chicago on Friday, June 27 at 7:00 p.m. on ION, 95.7 The Game, and the Audacy App.

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