Valkyries earn first road win against Sparks

Expansion teams are supposed to struggle to get their first win. Don't tell that to the Golden State Valkyries who already have a winning streak.

Carla Leite off the bench led Golden State with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting including two 3-pointers as the Valkyries held off the Los Angeles Sparks, 82-73.

(Carla) is just being herself," coach Natalie Nakase said. "She's not overthinking. It might be a blessing that I can't communicate with her right away. She's just playing herself and playing free. I think that's when players play their best and credit to our whole bench. Their plus minus was huge and they really stepped up and impacted our game tonight."

Janelle Salaün added 18 points and eight rebounds and Kayla Thornton had 14 points and 10 boards. The victory for Golden State avenges its home opening loss against Los Angeles last Friday.

The Sparks jumped out to an early 20-9 lead thanks to three 3-pointers by Odyssey Sims while Kelsey Plum scored points on transition layups off turnovers, and Dearica Hamby's strong physical play.

But the Sparks could not build on that advantage and had a 26-24 edge after the first quarter. Golden State hit the afterburners going on an impressive 18-0 run in the second quarter after trailing by two points to outscore Los Angeles 45-26.

A deep three by Kate Martin pushed the Valkyries ahead by 17 points with 2:17 to play in the first half. Golden State held Los Angeles scoreless for almost eight minutes, and the Sparks made only 2-of-16 shots in the quarter as the Valkyries had a 14-point halftime lead.

The Sparks fought back and got the game within five points in the fourth quarter, but Hamby fouled Thornton on a 3-point attempt with 1:33 remaining.

Thornton sank all three of her free throws to ensure the victory. Thornton spoke to Ion TV reporter Nikki Kay following the win.

"We just stay with it," Thornton said. "We're just beginning, this is our third game together and we just stay consistent with it. Our players just come in and do their job. I think it was our defense. Everybody came in and contributed. We had two big players out (Tiffany Hayes and Monique Billings) and we all stepped in and these two (Carla and Janelle) did an incredible job tonight."

The Valkyries travel out the Big Apple to take on the New York Liberty in a two-game series starting on Tuesday May 27th at Barclays Center at 4:00 P.M.

GAME NOTES

The Valkyries are 2-1.
By comparison, the last expansion team, the 2008 Atlanta Dream started the season 0-17 before winning their first game on July 5th.
Atlanta would win its next game against the Minnesota Lynx on July 9 finishing their inaugural season with a 4-30 record.