Balanced effort leads Valkyries to comfortable defeat of Liberty

The Golden State Valkyries ran up their second one-sided win over the New York Liberty this season Sunday night, riding balanced scoring and a second-quarter surge to a 76-67 victory in San Francisco.

Kaila Charles led the way with 13 points and seven teammates chipped in with at least seven points for the Valkyries (13-7), who recorded an 87-70 win at New York in May.

A low-scoring first half changed gears in the final 1:48 of the second period, when the Valkyries, who had missed their first eight 3-point attempts, suddenly found the range.

After two free throws by Jonquel Jones got the Liberty within 30-29, Cecilia Zandalasini, Kayla Thornton and Gabby Williams each bombed in a 3-pointer during a 62-second flurry, pushing the Golden State advantage to 10.

En route to a third consecutive victory, the Valkyries led 41-29 at the half, then never let the Liberty (12-8) closer than 11 in the second half until Golden State, which led by as many as 22, went scoreless in the final 3:54 of the game.

Veronica Burton contributed eight points, a game-high eight assists and a team-best six rebounds to the win, which the Valkyries accomplished despite shooting just 7-for-28 (25%) from deep.

Thornton buried a pair of 3-pointers en route to 11 points and Tiffany Hayes connected twice from deep during an eight-point night for the Valkyries, who also got 10 points apiece from Zandalasini and Janelle Salaun, eight from Kaitlyn Chen and seven from Williams.

Wrapping up a 1-3 road trip, the Liberty got a game-high 21 points from Jones and 15 from Breanna Stewart on a 4-for-11 shooting night. The Liberty made 40.4% of their shots from the field in their lowest-scoring game of the season.

In fact, New York's previous low had come in its earlier matchup with the Valkyries.

Jones, who bombed in a game-high three 3-pointers, also found time for a game-high seven rebounds.

Sabrina Ionescu, who had her former San Francisco Bay Area high school gym renamed in her honor in a ceremony Friday, gave her fans something to cheer about with a pair of 3-pointers. She finished with nine points.

- Field Level Media