Valkyries vs. Tempo: Janelle Salaun Scores 21 as Golden State Sweeps Season Series With 92-81 Win

For about 14 minutes on Tuesday night, the Toronto Tempo looked like the best shooting team in America. They hit 13 of their first 22 shots, went 8 for 14 from deep, and led the Golden State Valkyries 38-25 in the second quarter while the 18,064 inside a sold-out Chase Center tried to figure out what was happening.

Then the Valkyries remembered who they were. Janelle Salaun scored 21 points off the bench, Kayla Thornton added a season-high 20, and Golden State turned that 13-point hole into a 92-81 win that completed a three-game season sweep of the Tempo. Toronto has now lost seven straight.

A Thirteen-Point Hole, Then a Wrecking Crew

The first quarter was a shootout, with Thornton knocking down two 3s about 30 seconds apart and Golden State up just 25-24 after one. Toronto then went on one of those runs that make you check the logo on the jerseys. A 16-0 burst bridging the first two quarters took the Tempo from 25-22 down to 38-25 up by the 6:22 mark of the second, and the 3s just kept falling.

Golden State woke up in time. The Valkyries scored 16 of the last 20 points of the half to get within 42-41, and they kept right on going after the break. Their scoring run reached 15 straight points when the third quarter was just 82 seconds old, and suddenly Golden State led 48-42.

Toronto, to its credit, kept swinging. The third quarter turned chippy, with a replay review and a Flagrant 1 on Aneesah Morrow for an elbow that caught Thornton in the throat area with 4:27 left. The Tempo pulled within 69-68 with 2.9 seconds to go in the period. Golden State, though, had one more gear. The Valkyries scored the final points of the third and the first nine of the fourth, a 12-0 run that made it 81-68 with 7:35 left, and that was the ballgame. Gabby Williams, Veronica Burton and Thornton handled the closing stretch from there.

Salaun's Favorite Opponent

Salaun played 21 minutes and scored 21 points, going 8 of 12 overall and 4 of 6 from deep. By herself, she outscored Toronto's whole bench by eight. She has now put up 26, 24 and 21 points in three games against the Tempo, a total of 71, and the team says this is just the second time she has had 20-point games back to back in her career.

Thornton shot 6 of 10 and 4 of 7 from 3, going 4 for 4 at the line. Burton had one of those nights that only makes sense if you read the whole row: 12 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and no turnovers. She grabbed four offensive rebounds by herself, one fewer than Toronto's entire team. Tiffany Hayes came off the bench for 12 points, and the team says her four steals were a season best, to go with four rebounds and four assists. And Williams, who missed her first three shots, finished with 10 points and seven rebounds and went past 2,000 career points on a driving layup in the final two minutes, a milestone noted by the team. Kiah Stokes chipped in seven points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

The Tempo's frustration is that they were not bad. Sabally scored 21 on 8-of-12 shooting. Conde had 17 with five 3s and six rebounds. Marina Mabrey returned after sitting out Sunday with a neck injury and scored 12, though it took her 11 shots and she missed all four of her 3s. Laura Juskaite added 11 and finished plus-5, the best mark on her team. Julie Allemand had seven points, eight assists and four steals, and Morrow, in her Toronto debut after coming over in a trade with the Connecticut Sun on Friday, added eight points and five rebounds in 16 minutes.

The Twelve Points That Ended It

Toronto had taken every Golden State punch and was down one with 2.9 seconds left in the third. That is the moment the game turned. The Valkyries got the last word of the period and then opened the fourth like a team that had been waiting around all night to get serious. In less than two and a half minutes of fourth-quarter clock, a one-point game had become a 13-point game.

It was the third run of at least a dozen unanswered points in this game, after Toronto's 16-0 and Golden State's 15-0. Only this one came too late in the night for the other side to answer.

Stats That Matter

• 15-5: Offensive rebounds, part of a 38-27 Golden State edge on the glass.
• 37-13: Bench scoring in Golden State's favor.
• 68 to 59: Field-goal attempts. Toronto shot slightly better but took nine fewer shots.
• 27-21: Points off turnovers for Toronto, one of the few numbers it won and it still was not enough.
• 71: Salaun's points in three games against the Tempo this season.

What It Means

Golden State moved to 21-9 and 13-4 at home, with back-to-back wins after Sunday's 96-79 result against the same team. The Valkyries now head to Dallas for a Friday game with a season sweep of Toronto in hand.

Toronto dropped to 10-20 and 4-9 on the road, with losses in 11 of its last 12 games. The Tempo's next stop is Portland on Thursday.

Ballhalla Never Gets Old

The Valkyries call their home Ballhalla, and the Tempo have now spent three games learning why Salaun treats them like her favorite song on repeat. Seventy-one points in three meetings is the sort of number that makes a defensive coordinator start pulling up old film and asking uncomfortable questions. Toronto can take something from a first half that was genuinely fun. But a 13-point lead against this team is not a lead. It is a dare, and Golden State has a habit of taking those.

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