{"id":948022,"date":"2026-10-27T10:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T10:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/948022\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T10:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T10:12:10","slug":"wnba-finals-valkyries-beat-dream-to-reach-the-brink-of-their-first-title-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/948022\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA Finals: Valkyries beat Dream to reach the brink of their first title | Basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__subhead\">Kiah Stokes and Veronica Burton shine for Golden State as Angel Reese\u2019s Atlanta team was stifled by a strong defence.<\/p>\n<p>Published On 27 Oct 202627 Oct 2026<\/p>\n<p>Kiah Stokes and Veronica Burton each scored 13 points to help secure Golden State\u2019s 64-55 victory over Atlanta, putting the Valkyries on the brink of winning the Women\u2019s NBA Finals.<\/p>\n<p>Tiffany Hayes and reserve Cecilia Zandalasini each added 12 points for the Valkyries while Stokes and Burton each pulled down a team-best eight rebounds in Game 5 on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Golden State seized a 3-2 lead over the Dream in the best-of-seven championship series, which continues on Thursday in Atlanta.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not done yet. We\u2019ve got one more,\u201d Stokes said. \u201cWe need two hoops, 94 feet and each other and that\u2019s all we need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Valkyries, in only their second WNBA campaign, kept Dream star Angel Reese to seven points on 2-of-8 shooting, although she grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-arc-image-770 wp-image-5089485\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/AP26300127629089-1793092681.jpg\" alt=\"Atlanta Dream forward Angel Reese, middle, shoots against Golden State Valkyries forward Kayla Thornton, left, forward Cecilia Zandalasini (24) and guard Veronica Burton (22) during the first half of Game 5 of the WNBA basketball finals, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo\/Jeff Chiu)\" fetchpriority=\"low\"\/>Atlanta Dream\u2019s star forward Angel Reese was held back in Game 5 by GSV\u2019s strong defence [Jeff Chiu\/AP]<\/p>\n<p>Golden State dominated defensively, keeping Atlanta to a season-low in points on 19-of-65 (29 percent) shooting from the floor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat has just been our staple all season. We really rely on our defence,\u201d Stokes said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are tough. We have to make sure we\u2019re all doing our part. It\u2019s a team for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stokes had a game-high four blocked shots and has had at least three blocks in every finals game.<\/p>\n<p>Rhyne Howard led Atlanta with 20 points while Jordin Canada added 12.<\/p>\n<p>The Valkyries have been a hit with spectators in the home arena of the NBA Golden State Warriors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou all are amazing,\u201d Stokes screamed to a cheering crowd moments after the triumph. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t do this without you all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kiah Stokes and Veronica Burton shine for Golden State as Angel Reese\u2019s Atlanta team was stifled by a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":948023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[461,49,48,457,82,772,1690,630],"class_list":["post-948022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-basketball","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-us-canada","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948022","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=948022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/948023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=948022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=948022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}