Golden State Valkyries forward Gabby William (1) drives to the basket agianst the Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson (22) during first half action during round 2 game 1 of the WNBA semi finals at Chase Center in San Francisco on Sun Oct 4, 2026 (AP News photo)
By Michael Roberson
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif–Gabby Williams’ 25 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists, led her Golden State Valkyries (1-0) to a 71-60 victory over the Las Vegas Aces (0-1) in Game 1 of the WNBA Semifinals at another sold out Chase Center Sunday.
The Aces scored the first points of the game with a 3-pointer by Chelsea Gray. That lead would be their largest of the game. The 10-minute battle would have seven lead changes and 3 ties. The Valkyries led by as many as four points in the initial quarter, Gabby Williams (13) and A’ja Wilson (10) both scored in double digits for their respective teams.
After ten minutes of WNBA action, the home team led by four points, 22-18. Noticeably, Wilson was kept off the boards early in the game, and the Valkyries were on the offensive boards.Although it was the feeling out period, Golden State would eventually open up the advantage to double-figures.
In the second stanza the Valkyries’ lead did get up to 11 points. However, the Aces showed the pride of a champion and cut the deficit to three by the end of the quarter. Both Williams and Wilson added five points to their totals by the recess whistle. The Valkyries led by three points at the half, 34-31 Williams (18) and Wilson (15) also led their teams in scoring after 20 minutes of play, but the rebounding machine, A’ja Wilson only had one at that juncture.
In the second half, Golden State increased their lead to double-digits again, in the third (10) and fourth (13) quarters. During the third quarter, Golden State immediately went up by seven points, prompting Becky Hammond to call a timeout.
Later the Valkyries went up by 10 points, but the Aces kept fighting. By quarter’s end, the Ballhalla residents held on to an eight-point lead, 56-48. The two aforementioned team leaders garnered 20 points at the 30-minute mark of the contest.In addition to those two stars, Kiah Stokes grabbed ten rebounds for the Valkyries, and Chelsea Gray put up 15 points for the Aces.
In the final quadrant, the Valkyries went up by13 points, but still had to hold on to the lead by the final buzzer. Despite the multiple double-figures leads throughout the game, each quarter was within five points of each other.. The final score was an accumulation of all the small leads and wound up being an 11-point final score, 71-60.
Golden State dominated the boards 52-25, with offensive rebounds going their way 17-2. Those two glaring disparities were essential in the Game 1 victory for the Valkyries. Especially with superstar A’ja Wilson being held to only 4 total rebounds.
The Valkyries presented two players with double-digit scoring, and thee with that plateau in rebounding. Gabby Williams accomplished both (25 points) and 11 rebounds), while Kaitlyn Chen scored 11 points, Kayla Thornton secured 11 rebounds, and Kiah Stokes snatched down 14 carrums.
The Aces had three players reaching 10+ points, but absolutely no one with that amount of rebounds. A’ja Wilson led them with 24 points, Chelsea Gray (16) and Jackie Young contributed 11 points of her own.
The two combattants will meet up again for Game 2 of the semifinals, Wednesday, October 7 inside Chase Center at 6:30 PM PT on the Peacock/NBC Sports Network.
