Valkyries vs. Sparks: Cecilia Zandalasini Goes 5-for-5 From 3 as Golden State Survives an 84-78 Scare

For three quarters on Sunday, Cecilia Zandalasini made the Los Angeles Sparks look like a team that had lost its scouting report in the parking lot. Then the fourth quarter showed up, the Sparks bench started losing its collective mind, and a 19-point Golden State lead had shriveled to a single point with 1:38 on the clock.

The Golden State Valkyries still left crypto.com Arena with an 84-78 win and a fourth straight victory, mostly because Zandalasini had already gone 5 for 5 from 3-point range and because the last few big shots belonged to them. The streak survived. The blood pressure of everyone in lavender did not.

Twenty-Nine Points Before Anybody Got Comfortable

Zandalasini came in listed as questionable with left calf soreness, then opened the scoring with a left-wing 3 anyway. Her second one from the same spot sparked a 9-0 run that turned a 5-4 game into 14-4. By the end of the first quarter she had nine points on 3-of-3 shooting from deep, Golden State had gone 12 of 18 from the field, and the scoreboard read 29-15. The AP tabbed it as the team's highest-scoring first quarter this season.

The second period cooled off, but the Valkyries still led 45-32 at the half. That 32 tied the fewest points they have allowed in any half this season, according to the team, and nine different Valkyries had scored by then.

The third quarter gave us the possession of the day if you enjoy chaos. Golden State grabbed five offensive rebounds on one trip, a sequence that included a jump ball won by Kayla Thornton, and it ended with Tiffany Hayes, barely back on the floor, draining a 3. Kaitlyn Chen's layup 24 seconds into the fourth made it 66-47, the biggest lead of the day.

It was also the exact moment the game started going sideways.

The Sparks Remembered They Were Invited

Los Angeles scored 26 of the next 34 points. A 9-0 run trimmed a 68-51 hole to 68-60, and somewhere inside it, with 6:48 left, Kiah Stokes took an inadvertent elbow from Cameron Brink and left for good with a neck contusion. That pulled Golden State's starting center off the floor right as the game needed her.

Veronica Burton's three-point play got the lead back to 71-60 with 4:45 to go. Then the Sparks ran off 10 straight. Erica Wheeler hit from 28 feet. Nneka Ogwumike scored twice, once on a drive and once on a turnaround. Ariel Atkins buried one from 26 with 2:18 left, and suddenly it was 71-70 in a game that had been a laugher for most of the day.

Hayes answered from 29 feet, which is a ridiculous place to answer from. Wheeler matched her from 27 with 1:38 remaining to make it 74-73. Los Angeles never actually led, not once, and the box score shows zero lead changes. The Sparks just spent 10 minutes making that fact feel irrelevant.

The Turning Point: One Steal, One Bank Shot, One Dagger

With Golden State clinging to that one-point edge, Gabby Williams picked off a Sparks outlet pass, and moments later she banked in a six-footer for a 76-73 lead with 1:03 left. On the next big trip Burton found Janelle Salaun for a 25-foot 3 with 34.5 seconds to go, and 79-73 felt like oxygen. Thornton hit two free throws with 21 seconds left. A Rae Burrell step-back 3 in the final seconds only tidied up the final margin.

Perfect From Deep, With Plenty of Help

Zandalasini finished with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting, every make from behind the arc, plus seven rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes. According to the Valkyries, she is the first player in franchise history to make at least five 3s in a game without a miss, and she came one short of the WNBA record for most 3s without a miss, which is six.

Hayes gave Golden State 14 off the bench in 19 minutes. Williams and Thornton scored 11 apiece, and Burton ran the show, finishing with seven points, seven assists and three steals. All 10 Valkyries who played scored, and the team's 22 assists made it six straight games with at least 20, per the club.

For Los Angeles, Ogwumike had 16 points and seven rebounds, Wheeler scored 15 while going 3 of 9 from deep, Dearica Hamby added 12, and Kiana Williams gave the Sparks 10 off the bench in 15 minutes. Brink had seven points and seven rebounds. The Sparks took only nine free throws and made four, while Golden State went 8 of 9, and in a six-point game that gap looks very large in hindsight.

Stats That Matter

• 5 of 5: Zandalasini from 3, a season high in makes for her and a franchise first without a miss, per the team.
• 29-15, then 20-31: Golden State's first and fourth quarters, told as a two-part miniseries.
• 26-8: The Sparks' run from 66-47 to 74-73.
• 8 of 9 vs. 4 of 9: Free throws in a game decided by six.
• 36-28: Golden State's rebounding edge, built on 25 defensive boards to 17 for Los Angeles.

What It Means

Golden State is 23-9 overall and 10-5 on the road, with four straight wins. The AP notes the Valkyries are 13-2 since June 24, the best record in the WNBA over that stretch. The 23rd win also matches the total from the franchise's inaugural season, per the team, and there is still a lot of schedule left to beat it. The immediate concern is Stokes, who has started every game this season at center. Salaun handled most of the center minutes after she left. Chicago visits on Wednesday.

Los Angeles dropped to 12-19 and 5-10 at home, and Golden State now leads the season series 2-0 after a 78-58 win in June. The Sparks get Phoenix on Tuesday at the Galen Center, and they will at least take a pretty good fourth quarter with them.

Final Word

Head coach Natalie Nakase has been pushing her team to start faster, and she got exactly what she ordered: 29 points in 10 minutes. Her next request may involve the ending. Golden State spent the fourth quarter playing Jenga with a 19-point lead, pulled nearly every block out of the tower, and then remembered that you are allowed to stop. The tower stayed up, and four straight wins say that counts. Just do not ask anyone in lavender to watch the film before breakfast.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Records and game details as reported by the Associated Press and the Golden State Valkyries.