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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – AUGUST 14: Sophie Cunningham #8 of the Indiana Fever reacts during the game against the Dallas Wings at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on August 14, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Hickey\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
On Saturday, the Golden State Valkyries<\/a> visit the Las Vegas Aces<\/a> at the Michelob Ultra Arena for Game 3 of the 2026 WNBA semifinals.<\/p>\n The Valkyries are one win away from dethroning the Aces and sweeping the defending champions.<\/p>\n If the Aces lose tonight, it will be the first time they get swept in the playoffs since their 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Seattle Storm<\/a> in the 2020 WNBA Finals.<\/p>\n Sophie Cunningham Sends Message to Valkyries<\/p>\n \n On the latest episode of her No Hesitation<\/a>\u00a0podcast with Drew Hanlen, Sophie Cunningham<\/a> had nothing but praise for the Golden State Valkyries.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething that is so hard about Golden State is they truly all know their role, and they dominate their f*cking role,\u201d Cunningham said<\/a>. \u201cLike they know it, and they stay in it. Sometimes you\u2019re going to go outside, and people are going to kind of have unique games that they do score more points than whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n The Indiana Fever<\/a> star mentioned how impressive Kiah Stokes was in Game 1 against the Las Vegas Aces. Stokes was scoreless, but she grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked four shots. She also made things tough for A\u2019ja Wilson<\/a>, who went 8-for-21 in the Aces\u2019 71-60<\/a> loss.<\/p>\n In Game 2, Stokes didn\u2019t have the biggest impact, but Gabby Williams<\/a> and Tiffany Hayes<\/a> stepped up to earn the 83-81<\/a> victory.<\/p>\n More Words for the Valkyries From Cunningham<\/p>\n \n Sophie Cunningham continued to admire how the Golden State Valkyries are playing for each other and don\u2019t care about their roles as long as they are successful.<\/p>\n Cunningham was baffled that the Valkyries have a combined four All-Star appearances from their entire roster, compared to the star-studded Las Vegas Aces.<\/p>\n \u201cThey all work hard, and they all don\u2019t care about the awards,\u201d Cunningham said<\/a>. \u201cTheir egos are not in the way. All they want to do is freaking win. And that\u2019s why they\u2019ve been on top of the W all year round. So, I\u2019m not surprised by this. I\u2019m really not surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n The Valkyries are just in their second season in the WNBA. They made the playoffs last year, but they were swept by the Minnesota Lynx<\/a> in the first round.<\/p>\n Gabby Williams was their big signing in the offseason, and it paid off tremendously. Williams has been the team\u2019s best player this season, but the Valkyries seemingly have a different player who stands out every game.<\/p>\n Golden State finished second in the WNBA standings this season. They eliminated the Dallas Wings<\/a> in three games and are now one win away from their first WNBA Finals appearance.<\/p>\n If they beat the Aces, they will face either the Atlanta Dream<\/a> or New York Liberty<\/a>. The Dream are up 2-0 against the Liberty.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJuan Paolo David<\/a> Juan Paolo David is a sports journalist covering basketball for Heavy. He has a decade of experience writing about the NBA and WWE. He’s currently based in the Philippines. More about Juan Paolo David<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – AUGUST 14: Sophie Cunningham #8 of the Indiana Fever reacts during the game against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":926887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-926886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=926886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/926887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Golden](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1920x1080-2026-07-09T002130.979.png\")
<\/a>GettyKaila Charles #6 of the Golden State Valkyries hugs Kayla Thornton #5 after the game against the Atlanta Dream at Chase Center on June 24, 2026 in San Francisco, California.\n<\/p>\n![\"Sophie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1920x1080-2026-07-14T211608.880.png\")
<\/a>GettySophie Cunningham #8 of the Indiana Fever during the WNBA game at Mortgage Matchup Center on July 09, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Fever defeated the Phoenix Mercury<\/a> 92-89.\n<\/p>\n