{"id":718142,"date":"2026-06-21T23:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T23:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/718142\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T23:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T23:06:07","slug":"valkyries-instant-analysis-aja-wilson-led-aces-demolish-golden-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/718142\/","title":{"rendered":"Valkyries instant analysis: A\u2019ja Wilson-led Aces demolish Golden State"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Aces<\/a> didn\u2019t just beat the Valkyries<\/a> on Sunday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They dismantled them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Las Vegas raced out to a 20-point halftime<\/a> lead and never let the Valkyries breathe as Golden State fell 92-73. It was the worst loss of the season for the Valkyries, who trailed by as much as 28 in the second half.<\/p>\n

Golden State dropped its second straight game and have now lost its sixth straight to the Aces with Sunday\u2019s defeat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Valkyries were ice cold from the 3-point line, hitting a season-low 5-of-30 of their shots from deep. They came into the game leading<\/a> the league in 3-pointers made (184) and 3-point percentage (36.4%).\u00a0<\/p>\n

They couldn\u2019t stop the Aces\u2019 star-studded offense as the home team shot 62% from the field and 46% from the 3-point line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cecilia Zandalasini had another solid game, scoring 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Kaitlyn Chen added 11 points and Gabby Williams and Laeticia Amihere each had 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No other player had more than seven points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NorCal native Chelsea Gray had 15 points and nine assists. A\u2019ja Wilson had 19 points and nine rebounds while Jackie Young led the Aces in scoring with 21 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Valkyries stayed with the defending champions up until the midway point of the second quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After a bucket from Kiah Stokes cut the Aces\u2019 lead to one at the 6:35 mark, Las Vegas went on to go on a 21-2 run to close the half.<\/p>\n

A barrage of buckets from Gray and Young cut up the Valkyries\u2019 defense as Golden State went into the halftime break down 50-30. The Valkyries made just one of their 15 3-point attempts in the first half and were outscored 27-13 in the second quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Williams opened the third quarter with an impressive steal-and-score \u2013 a play that looked like it set the tone for the Valkyries to open the second half.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the final 20 minutes were much more of the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Aces won the third quarter by eight points and cruised to an easy win as Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase emptied her bench.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Burton struggles<\/p>\n

For the second straight game, starting point guard Veronica Burton struggled to get going.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The reigning most improved player of the year scored two points in 16 minutes on 1-of-5 shooting from the field. She missed all three of her 3-point shot attempts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Against the Lynx<\/a> on Friday, Burton had just eight points on 3-of-8 shooting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jocyt\u0117 still progressing<\/p>\n

The Valkyries are clearly taking their time with rookie Just\u0117 Jocyt\u0117<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said the team is transitioning Jocyt\u0117 to becoming a point guard \u2013 a role she hasn\u2019t played before.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jocyt\u0117 got in garbage time minutes in the fourth quarter when the game became out of reach for the Valkyries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nakase said the 20-year-old Lithuanian has been adjusting to the role change well and complimented her for learning on the fly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI need her to be prepared for the physicality and the pace of the W,\u201d Nakase said before Sunday\u2019s game. \u201cIt\u2019s physical and also I want her to be in the best shape so I don\u2019t set her up for an injury as well. \u2026 So it\u2019s understanding that not everyone has the same timeline, and I love that Just\u0117 has been very patient. But she\u2019s learning so much in terms of the point guard position.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Aces didn\u2019t just beat the Valkyries on Sunday afternoon.\u00a0 They dismantled them.\u00a0 Las Vegas raced out to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[10832,402,3805,2356,10833,1915,4804,10831,14059,2558,5415,36930,10834,10835,5413,10836,10837,5284,10838,10839,10840,10841,10842,5414,10843,99,434],"class_list":["post-718142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-alameda-county","tag-basketball","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-contra-costa-county","tag-east-bay","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-inside-sports","tag-lake-county","tag-latest-headlines","tag-marin-county","tag-mendocino-county","tag-monterey-county","tag-napa-county","tag-north-bay","tag-peninsula","tag-san-benito-county","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-county","tag-san-mateo-county","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-santa-cruz-county","tag-solano-county","tag-sonoma-county","tag-south-bay","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}