{"id":879322,"date":"2026-10-12T05:06:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T05:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/879322\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T05:06:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T05:06:29","slug":"golden-state-valkyries-advance-to-wnba-finals-after-sweeping-las-vegas-aces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/879322\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden State Valkyries Advance to WNBA Finals After Sweeping Las Vegas Aces"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Valkyries<\/a> are heading to the 2026 Women\u2019s National Basketball Association Finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Bay Area\u2019s WNBA team defeated the defending champions, the Las Vegas Aces, on Friday night 87-77 in overtime, sweeping their semifinals opponent 3-0 in the best-of-five series.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Valkyries fans decked out in violet spilled out onto the sidewalk at a watch party at the Mission brewery Standard Deviant cheering after the final buzzer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel elated, just absolutely buzzed. This just means so much for the city and so much for sports,\u201d said Becky Mincio. \u201cWe\u2019re literally in tears because this just means so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Fans applaud as the Golden State Valkyries face the Las Vegas Aces during a watch party at Standard Deviant Brewing in San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2026.<\/p>\n

\"\"Golden State Valkyries merchandise and party favors cover a table before a watch party at Standard Deviant Brewing in San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2026.<\/p>\n

The Valkyries will play the Atlanta Dream in Game 1 of the finals next Saturday, Oct. 17 at Chase Center. It\u2019s only the team\u2019s second season but already the Valkyries\u2019 second time in a WNBA playoff series since launching in 2025<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Friday\u2019s win in Las Vegas didn\u2019t come easy. Fans were on edge for nearly all of the first half as the Valkyries trailed behind the Aces, who had home court advantage. The Aces led at halftime, and the teams traded the lead back and forth throughout the fourth quarter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Valkyries managed to claw back to a tie, sending the game into overtime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At a post-game press conference, Center Kiah Stokes and guard Gabby Williams said the overtime win was a mix of excitement \u2014 and relief.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels special because this is a special group,\u201d Williams said. \u201cWe\u2019re about to have some bandwagoners because we didn\u2019t get no love all season. Nobody believed in us, but it honestly made us smile because all we need is each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the team ultimately clinched the win, the Mission brewery erupted in cheers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Chelsea Blockin jumps and cheers as the Golden State Valkyries defeat the Las Vegas Aces at Standard Deviant Brewing in San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2026.<\/p>\n

\"\"Zac Brown throws his arms in the air as the Golden State Valkyries defeat the Las Vegas Aces at Standard Deviant Brewing in San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last game, Gabby [Williams] said that she felt like Ballhalla was the sixth person on the court,\u201d said Chelsea Locklin referring to recent comments from the team\u2019s star forward about fans at the Chase Center. \u201cIt felt like we were still sending the same Ballhalla energy to them in Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballhalla, a play on the mythological hall called Valhalla in the same Norse mythology that the Valkyries are named after, has become a source of joy and pride for the team\u2019s fanbase. Many of the viewers at Standard Deviant said they had gone to games in person before Friday\u2019s away game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fandom<\/a> for the team has exploded with celebrity-studded games and sold-out matches leading up to their finals debut. Their homecourt has been packed with fans in purple shirts, winged headpieces and other homages to the team\u2019s mythical mascot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After their inaugural season, the Valkyries were deemed the most valuable team in the league, reaching around $850 million valuation in 2026 after a record-breaking $78 million in revenue, according to ESPN<\/a>, largely fueled by the team\u2019s thousands of season-ticket holders and sponsorship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"A Golden State Valkyries fan wearing a No. 15 jersey throws his arms in the air during the team\u2019s game against the Las Vegas Aces at Standard Deviant Brewing in San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2026.\u00a0(Gustavo Hernandez\/KQED)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a season-ticket holder, been at every single game, losing my voice every single night,\u201d said Angelina Zamatia, who came out to watch the game with friends in San Francisco on Friday night. \u201cI\u2019m so proud of this team. Literally a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Megan Gerwe came to Friday\u2019s watch party at Standard Deviant with her moms and friends to celebrate her aunt\u2019s birthday, even handmaking lavender party hats with the team logo for extra flair. She said the team has been especially meaningful to her family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are lots of queer players on our team, which is super important and cool for my family, because we\u2019re represented,\u201d Gerwe said. \u201cI\u2019m just so glad that so many people here are into the Valkyries it\u2019s such a special thing to be a part of, especially for women and queer women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fiona Lin grew up watching NBA games with her dad and grandfather in China, and said it\u2019s been thrilling to feel represented by players like Kaitlyn Chen. She said having a home team to root for in San Francisco has been an exciting and, at times nerve-wracking, experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Max Chang (left) and Fiona Lin pose in matching Golden State Valkyries shirts outside Standard Deviant Brewing in San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2026.<\/p>\n

\"\"Four Golden State Valkyries fans wear matching Kaitlyn Chen jerseys while watching the team\u2019s playoff game against the Las Vegas Aces at Standard Deviant Brewing in San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went to one of the playoffs last Friday<\/a>. I was so stressed the whole time. I was so nervous that my Oura ring was like, \u2018you were so stressed for the last two hours and a half,\u2019\u201d Lin laughed, referring to a health monitoring wearable device. \u201cBut the crowd was just amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coach Natalie Nakase, a former WNBA player and assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers, knows the playoff circuit well. In her previous role as assistant coach for the Las Vegas Aces, she steered the team to two WNBA championships in 2022 and 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nakase was awarded WNBA Coach of the year after leading the Valkyries\u2019 debut season in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That year, the Valkyries quickly gave fans something to cheer for by reaching the playoffs, making history as the first expansion team to reach a postseason in their inaugural season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Niki Hsu (left), Alyssa Leu and Kayla Curameng pose in matching Golden State Valkyries Kaitlyn Chen jerseys at Standard Deviant Brewing in San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2026.\u00a0(Gustavo Hernandez\/KQED)<\/p>\n

However the Valkyries 2025 playoff series fell short when the Minnesota Lynx knocked the team out in the first round. This year, the Valkyries managed to push further.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Andrew Pospeshil and other rowdy fans Friday night couldn\u2019t be more excited for the next round.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m watching every game for the finals,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is the greatest sports environment and fandom. It\u2019s so much fun. I feel like the team has a great chemistry. The fans are just enjoying this so much. I\u2019m having a f\u2014 time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams said the team culture and the work they\u2019d put in together made it feel like they \u201chad something worth fighting for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShout out to the Valkyries organization, they had this vision from the start and to see it come to fruition already in year two, it\u2019s pretty amazing. It\u2019s special,\u201d Stokes said.<\/p>\n

Nakase said she saw a \u201cnew level of fight\u201d from her players last night.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiterally this is a dream come true to be going to the finals in our second year \u2014 it can come true,\u201d Nakase said. \u201cAs we know, job\u2019s not done and we now have to go another gear.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Golden State Valkyries are heading to the 2026 Women\u2019s National Basketball Association Finals.\u00a0 The Bay Area\u2019s WNBA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":879323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-879322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879322","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=879322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}