Valkyries vs. Mercury: Veronica Burton and Gabby Williams Drop 25 Each to Hold Off Phoenix 87-81

For about 20 minutes on Tuesday night, the Golden State Valkyries played like a team that had never heard of a losing streak. For the next 10, they played like a team auditioning for a longer one. What saved them at Chase Center, in front of 18,064 people who were promised a coast and got a stress test, was a pair of teammates who apparently know exactly what to say to each other when things get weird.

Veronica Burton and Gabby Williams scored 25 apiece, and the Valkyries held off the Phoenix Mercury 87-81 to climb to 7-5 and end a two-game slide. It was the first time in franchise history that two Golden State players hit 25 in the same game, and the night needed every bit of both of them.

Forty-Nine Points, Then a Whole Lot of Sweating

The first quarter was pure mood swings. Golden State jumped out 10-3, Phoenix ripped off 13 straight to lead 16-10, and the Valkyries answered with nine in a row on the way to a 22-18 edge.

Then Burton took the game over. She made both her shots and five free throws in the second quarter, finishing a 19-point first half on 5-of-7 shooting, her best half of the season. A 9-0 burst midway through the period broke things open, an 18-5 run closed it, and Golden State headed to the locker room shooting 57.1% and leading 49-32. The lead had reached 18 at one point, and Tuesday looked like a night for resting legs.

Phoenix had other ideas. The Mercury shot 12 of 15 in the third quarter, an 80% clip that barely seems legal, while Golden State went 4 for 17. Alyssa Thomas ran the show, initiating almost everything Phoenix did, and a 29-17 period cut the deficit to 66-61. Suddenly, there was a basketball game.

Burton Set the Table, Williams Cleared It

Burton finished with 25 points on 7-of-15 shooting, tying her season high, plus eight assists in 37 minutes and 9 of 11 at the line. In a game Golden State won by six, those free throws were a one-person argument for attacking the rim. She also assisted the two biggest baskets of the fourth quarter, which we will get to.

Williams matched her at 25, going 9 of 19 with three threes, and this was the first time in her career she has scored 20-plus in back-to-back games. Her 3-pointer with 5:58 left made it 74-67. Kayla Thornton added 12 and a team-best plus-15, Janelle Salaun gave the bench 11, and Tiffany Hayes, who went down after a collision in the second quarter and later returned, scored seven with a plus-11 in just 13 minutes. That left Hayes three points shy of 5,000 for her career.

"She's just a really dynamic scorer and in big moments, she gets a steal; and at the most important time of the game, then she's also getting clutch buckets down the stretch," Burton said of Williams.

Phoenix got 22 points, nine assists and eight rebounds from Thomas, who started after missing Friday's game at Portland with a left calf injury. Monique Akoa Makani scored 19 on 7-of-11 shooting, Noemie Brochant had 10 points and six assists, and Natasha Mack grabbed 10 rebounds. Thomas and Kahleah Copper also each drew a technical, which did not help.

The Steal That Ended the Drama

Copper's 25-foot three got Phoenix within 74-72 with 4:06 left, and a Thomas free throw made it 78-76 with 2:17 to go. That is when Burton went to work as a passer. She found Thornton for a 23-footer, then, after an Akoa Makani jumper, fed Williams for a driving layup and the foul. Both went down. Thomas answered with a three-point play of her own with 51.7 seconds left, and a six-point cushion was back to 84-81.

Then Williams simply took the ball. Her steal with 14 seconds left meant the Mercury never got a shot at the tie. She split a pair of free throws, Thornton made two more, Kaila Charles cleaned up the last defensive rebound, and that was that.

Stats That Matter

• 23 of 28: Golden State's free throws, against 12 of 18 for Phoenix. That 11-point gap is nearly twice the final margin.
• 17-11: Golden State's edge in points off turnovers. Phoenix gave it away 16 times, the Valkyries just nine.
• 20-4: Phoenix's fast-break advantage, the main reason the Mercury could hang around.
• 4 for 17: Golden State's third-quarter shooting, the stretch that turned a laugher into a nail-biter.
• 9: Golden State's turnovers, its fourth straight game in single digits, and a big reason a shaky second half did not become a disaster.

What It Means

Golden State is 7-5 overall, 5-2 at home and 2-2 in Commissioner's Cup play. Its two Cup losses came by a combined eight points against Minnesota and Las Vegas, the only teams still unbeaten atop the West's Cup standings. The Valkyries are also 2-0 against Phoenix this season after winning the May 10 home opener 95-79. A trip to Seattle is next on Friday night.

For Phoenix, the fun stopped at two. The Mercury had won back-to-back games after a six-game skid, and this loss drops them to 4-9 overall, 3-5 on the road and 2-2 in Cup play. They visit Dallas on Thursday and do not see the Valkyries again until July 29.

Every Double Act Needs a Closer

"We can relate to one another by the way we've both come up through this league and had to kind of find our way through," Williams said of Burton. That sounds sweet, and it is. It also explains the fourth quarter. Every great comedy duo has one person who sets up the joke and one who lands it. On Tuesday, Burton fed, Williams finished, and the punchline was a stolen ball with 14 seconds left, just as Phoenix was lining up its shot at the tie.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press. Postgame quotes and team notes from the Golden State Valkyries.