Valkyries vs. Wings: Gabby Williams Scores 25 as a 19-0 Run and 43 Bench Points Bury Dallas, 91-80

For a little over 12 minutes on Wednesday night, the Dallas Wings looked exactly like the team that had just hung 96 on the defending champs. Then the bottom fell out so completely that Chase Center watched them score seven points in an entire quarter, a number you usually only see on a middle school scoreboard.

The Golden State Valkyries took the lead during that collapse and never gave it back. Gabby Williams scored 25, Kaitlyn Chen came off the bench for 15 against two old UConn teammates, and the Valkyries beat the Wings 91-80 for their fourth straight win.

Dallas Had the Answer Key, Then Lost It

The start was all Wings. They went 11-for-17 in the first quarter, Jessica Shepard made all five of her shots, and Dallas led 26-17 after one and 30-21 early in the second. It looked like a continuation of Monday's 96-66 demolition of Las Vegas.

We'll get to what happened next, but the short version is that Golden State went into the half up 44-33 after a 27-7 quarter. What makes this game more than a one-run story is that Dallas refused to go quietly. The Wings came out of the locker room and scored eight straight in a 40-second span to get within 44-41, poured in 29 in the third and were only down 64-62 going to the fourth.

The final period was a slow Valkyries squeeze. Azzi Fudd's step-back 3 made it 81-74 with 4:37 left, and Paige Bueckers followed with a pull-up that cut it to five. Chen answered with a driving layup off a Williams feed. Arike Ogunbowale kept coming with a running layup, but Veronica Burton hit two free throws and Kaila Charles scored inside to push it to 87-78 with 1:15 to go. Burton and Bueckers hit the deck hard chasing a loose ball with 58.1 seconds left, and both got back up. Golden State made its free throws and that was that.

The Reunion Tour

The subplot here was delicious. Chen played with Bueckers and Fudd at UConn, and coach Natalie Nakase said before tipoff that Chen had offered some insight on them for the game plan. Whatever she said, it worked. Bueckers finished 5-of-13 for 15 points, though she did dish eight assists. Fudd went 4-of-13 for 10, with five steals as a consolation prize. Chen went 7-of-10 in 25 minutes and led everybody at plus-26. "When she steps on the court, it's like her playground," Nakase said.

Williams did a lot of her damage at the line, making a career-high nine free throws on 12 tries to go with 7-of-16 from the floor. It was her third game this season with at least 25, and she finished plus-25. "I think Gabby is just making reads," Nakase said, which undersells it a little when the reads keep ending with you at the stripe.

Kayla Thornton grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds to go with eight points. Burton filled the box with 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Janelle Salaun scored 12, and Tiffany Hayes needed just 10 minutes to get 10, going 2-of-2 from 3.

For Dallas, Ogunbowale was terrific in a losing effort: 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting, 3-of-3 from deep and zero turnovers. Shepard finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds, though after that perfect first quarter she went 2-of-8 the rest of the way. Sug Sutton gave the Wings nine off the bench on 3-of-4 shooting.

Nineteen Unanswered

Here's the moment. Dallas led 30-21 with 7:51 left in the second. Five minutes later, Golden State led 40-30. In between, the Wings scored nothing while Chen and Williams combined for 16 of the Valkyries' 19 points.

"I feel like we stepped up our defense, and then when we were able to get stops," Chen said of the run. "We were able to push in transition and get easy baskets."

Dallas shot 2-of-15 in the quarter, including 1-of-6 from 3. The team's recap says seven points in that period is the lowest in franchise history. A Wings offense that had looked unguardable for a quarter and change suddenly couldn't buy a bucket, and it spent the rest of the night paying that bill.

The weird part is how even the rest of the game was. Dallas actually made more field goals, 30 to 29. The difference came from behind the arc, where Golden State made three more 3s, and at the line, where the Valkyries made 10 more free throws. Take away that one five-minute stretch and this is a coin flip.

The Math

• 27-7: The second quarter, which is the whole ballgame in two numbers.
• 43: Golden State's bench points, on top of the 30 its reserves scored Monday against Los Angeles. Dallas got 17 from its bench.
• 12-of-25: Golden State from 3, a season-best 48 percent, with seven different Valkyries connecting.
• 41-25: The rebounding margin, including a 9-2 edge on the offensive glass.
• 21-10: Points off turnovers, in Dallas' favor. The Valkyries gave it away 13 times to the Wings' eight and still won by 11.

Four Straight and Climbing

Golden State is now 10-5 overall and 7-2 at Chase Center. The Valkyries wrapped up Commissioner's Cup play at 5-2 in the Western Conference, and they've won four in a row, with Minnesota coming to town on Friday. A bench that leads the league in scoring per game, according to the team, is doing what it says on the label.

Dallas falls to 9-6 and 4-4 on the road. Two days after throttling the champs, the Wings got a reminder that a quarter like this can erase almost anything. They host Chicago on Saturday.

Everybody Has That Classmate

Every college reunion has one former classmate who shows up thriving and makes everyone else reconsider their choices. At Chase Center, that was Chen, going 7-of-10 while her two famous old teammates combined for 9-of-26. She gave the credit away, of course, saying "we fed off the energy of Ballhalla." Sure. It also helps when you've read the scouting report on your friends.

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