Valkyries Win First Playoff Series in Franchise History With 77-73 Comeback Over Wings
- 🔑 The No. 2 seed Golden State Valkyries beat the No. 7 seed Dallas Wings 77-73 in Game 3 on Friday, October 2, 2026, at Chase Center, winning the best-of-three first-round series 2-1. It is the franchise’s first playoff series win, in its second season, and its first trip to the semifinals.
- Dallas went on a 20-0 run that spanned halftime and led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter, at 53-37. Golden State trailed only 59-54 after three quarters, then outscored the Wings 23-14 in the fourth quarter to turn the game around.
- Gabby Williams scored 19 points for Golden State, 17 of them after halftime, and Tiffany Hayes added 18 off the bench. Veronica Burton had 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and Kiah Stokes grabbed 13 rebounds. Williams’ go-ahead 17-footer came with 1:17 left.
- Arike Ogunbowale scored 30 points on 11-of-21 shooting for Dallas, two days after her playoff-record 45 points in Game 2. Paige Bueckers had 17 points and six assists, shooting 3-of-14 from the field and a perfect 10-of-10 at the free-throw line.
- Golden State shot just 35% (27-of-77) but took 18 more field-goal attempts than Dallas, made nine threes to the Wings’ five, and committed six turnovers to Dallas’s 11. The Valkyries also won the rebounding battle, 40-36, despite the poor shooting night.
- Golden State meets the defending champion Las Vegas Aces in a best-of-five semifinal, with Game 1 on Sunday, October 4, at 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT) at Chase Center on NBC. This page uses no betting odds or win probabilities and makes no predictions.
The Golden State Valkyries beat the Dallas Wings 77-73 on Friday, October 2, 2026, rallying from 16 points down in the third quarter to win Game 3 and their first-round series 2-1. It is the first playoff series win in the franchise’s history, in its second season, and it sends the No. 2 seed into the WNBA semifinals against the Las Vegas Aces. Gabby Williams led Golden State with 19 points, and Arike Ogunbowale scored 30 for the No. 7 seed Wings at Chase Center in San Francisco.
How did the Valkyries come back to beat the Wings in Game 3?
Golden State trailed 53-37 in the third quarter, trimmed the gap to 59-54 by the end of it, then outscored Dallas 23-14 in the fourth quarter to win. Dallas led 19-14 after one quarter and 44-37 at halftime, then ended the first half and opened the third with a 20-0 run, as Golden State missed its first nine shots of the second half, including three straight threes. Williams hit two threes late in the third, and the Valkyries went to the fourth down five.
Dallas still led 61-59 when Veronica Burton scored on a layup with 8:19 left. Kaila Charles tied the game with a three-pointer at 6:51, and Arike Ogunbowale’s off-balance jumper with 3:13 left put the Wings up five. Williams’ 17-foot jumper with 1:17 to play gave Golden State a 73-72 lead.
With 13.1 seconds left and Golden State up one, Williams jumped back inbounds to corral her own miss on a play first ruled Dallas’s ball. Coach Natalie Nakase challenged, and replay overturned the call. Williams finished 4-of-4 at the free-throw line down the stretch, and Golden State held on. Late in the fourth quarter, Nakase went to her knees on the sideline and stayed in the game, and the team said afterward that she was fine.
| Qtr | DAL | GS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 | 14 |
| 2 | 25 | 23 |
| 3 | 15 | 17 |
| 4 | 14 | 23 |
| Final | 73 | 77 |
How did Golden State win while shooting 35 percent?
Golden State won on shot volume and ball security: it took 18 more field-goal attempts than Dallas, made nine threes to the Wings’ five and committed six turnovers to Dallas’s 11. The Valkyries shot 35% from the field (27-of-77) against Dallas’s 44% (26-of-59), and both teams hit 31% from three. But Golden State attempted 29 threes to Dallas’s 16, and its 27 points from beyond the arc against 15 outweighed Dallas’s 42-36 edge on two-point baskets. The Wings were slightly better at the line, 16-of-19 to 14-of-18.
| Stat | GS | DAL |
|---|---|---|
| FG | 27-77 | 26-59 |
| 3P | 9-29 | 5-16 |
| FT | 14-18 | 16-19 |
| Rebounds | 40 | 36 |
| Assists | 17 | 13 |
| Turnovers | 6 | 11 |
Who were the standout players in Game 3?
Gabby Williams scored 19 points for Golden State, 17 of them after halftime, and Arike Ogunbowale led all scorers with 30 for Dallas. The leading lines, from the official box score:
- Williams: 6-of-17 from the field, 3-of-6 from three and 4-of-4 at the line, with 11 of her points coming in the fourth quarter.
- Tiffany Hayes: 18 points off the bench for Golden State.
- Veronica Burton: 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. ESPN’s game story calls it the first double-double in Valkyries postseason history.
- Kiah Stokes and Kaila Charles: Stokes grabbed 13 rebounds, and Charles added 10 points and six rebounds.
- Ogunbowale: 30 points on 11-of-21 shooting, two days after her 45-point Game 2, a WNBA playoff record.
- Paige Bueckers: 17 points and six assists on 3-of-14 shooting from the field and 10-of-10 at the line.
- Jessica Shepard: 12 points and 12 rebounds for Dallas.
Is this the Valkyries’ first playoff series win?
Yes: it is the first playoff series win in Valkyries history, in the franchise’s second season, and it puts the team in the semifinals for the first time. Golden State reached the 2025 playoffs as the No. 8 seed in its inaugural season but lost its first-round series to Minnesota 2-0, dropping Game 2 by 75-74 after leading by 17 in the third quarter.
This year the Valkyries finished as the No. 2 seed and opened the series with a 104-80 win at home on Sunday, September 27. Dallas answered with a 108-100 overtime win on Wednesday, September 30, behind Ogunbowale’s 45 points, which forced the decider on Friday, October 2.
What happens next for the Valkyries?
Golden State plays the defending champion Las Vegas Aces in a best-of-five semifinal that opens Sunday, October 4, at 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT) at Chase Center, on NBC. As the higher seed, the Valkyries host Games 1, 2 and 5, and Las Vegas hosts Games 3 and 4. Game 2 is Wednesday, October 7, at 9:30 p.m. ET, Game 3 is Friday, October 9, in Las Vegas, and Game 4 is Sunday, October 11. A Game 5, if needed, would be Wednesday, October 14, in San Francisco. Tip times for Games 4 and 5 had not been announced as of Saturday, October 3.
In the other semifinal, Atlanta hosts New York in Game 1 on Sunday, October 4, at 2 p.m. ET on ABC, and the WNBA Finals open Saturday, October 17.
For the full bracket, results and schedule, see our 2026 WNBA playoff bracket and schedule tracker . To see how the Aces got here, read our recap of A’ja Wilson’s 36-point Game 3 against Indiana .
How we verified this
Final score, quarters and box score: Golden State 77, Dallas 73 on Friday, October 2, 2026, was checked against ESPN’s official box score and scoreboard, the league’s own recap, the Associated Press game story (carried by a local ABC station) and coverage from CBS, Fox and Yahoo Sports. All agree on the score, the 2-1 series result and the leading lines for Williams, Hayes, Burton, Stokes, Ogunbowale and Bueckers. The quarter scores (Dallas 19-25-15-14, Golden State 14-23-17-23) come from ESPN’s scoreboard and game page, which agree. The team totals reconcile: Golden State’s 27 field goals (nine of them threes) and 14 free throws add up to 77, and Dallas’s 26 field goals (five threes) and 16 free throws add up to 73. The 18-shot gap, the 27-15 split in points from three and the 42-36 split in points on two-point baskets are our own arithmetic from that box score.
Date: The league’s recap page and one Yahoo Sports page label the game October 3, which looks like a UTC rollover. ESPN’s scoreboard, the AP story, CBS and Fox all place it on Friday, October 2 (Eastern time), so we used October 2.
Game flow: The 53-37 lead after a 9-0 run, the nine missed shots to open the third quarter, the 61-59 score at 8:19, Kaila Charles’ tying three at 6:51, Ogunbowale’s jumper at 3:13 and Williams’ go-ahead jumper at 1:17 come from the AP story and the league’s recap, which agree. The 20-0 run across halftime comes from ESPN’s game story and is consistent with the 44-37 halftime and 53-37 scores. Summaries of Ogunbowale’s 3:13 jumper gave different exact scores, so we say only that Dallas led by five, which every account shares. The 73-72 score at 1:17 comes from Yahoo Sports’ live updates and fits the box score: Williams was 4-of-4 at the line and Dallas’s Alysha Clark was 1-of-2 in the closing seconds. The 13.1-second replay challenge is reported the same way by the AP, the league, ESPN and CBS.
Single-source items: Williams’ 11 fourth-quarter points and the description of Burton’s double-double as the first in Valkyries postseason history come from ESPN’s game story alone. Williams’ total fits her box-score line and the AP’s 17 second-half points. Her two late third-quarter threes appear in one recap only, but they also fit that arithmetic.
Series context: The first playoff series win in franchise history and the first semifinal trip are consistent across the AP, ESPN and the Valkyries’ own site. The Game 1 and Game 2 scores come from the league’s recap and Wikipedia’s 2026 playoffs page, and the league’s recap calls Ogunbowale’s 45 points a playoff record. One working summary gave the 2025 first-round series against Minnesota as 2-1; the 2025 game recaps from ESPN and the league’s site and Wikipedia’s 2025 playoffs page show Minnesota won 2-0, including Game 2, 75-74, after trailing by 17 in the third quarter, so we followed those.
Coach Natalie Nakase: Coverage of her late-game fall is limited to one neutral sentence, based on the team’s statement as relayed by ESPN and Yahoo Sports. We state no cause, diagnosis or severity.
Schedule: The semifinal Game 1 time and network (Sunday, October 4, 4 p.m. ET, NBC) come from ESPN’s schedule page and CBS Sports, and the Valkyries’ own announcement gives 1 p.m. PT at Chase Center. The best-of-five format, the home-game pattern (Games 1, 2 and 5 in San Francisco), the Game 2 and Game 3 dates and times, the Atlanta-New York Game 1 time and the Saturday, October 17 start of the Finals come from ESPN, CBS Sports and Wikipedia, which agree. Game 4 and Game 5 tip times had not been announced when we checked. Streaming platforms listed by some sources are left out.
Still moving at write time: As of Saturday, October 3, 2026, around noon Eastern, no semifinal game had been played. The Game 3 result is final, but the semifinal schedule section is accurate only until Game 1 tips off on Sunday, October 4.
Left out on purpose: attendance (none of the sources we reached gave a figure), commentary on individual shooting nights, any cause for the Nakase incident, and all sportsbook content.
No betting odds, spreads, or win-probability models appear anywhere on this page. Several preview and how-to-watch pages we consulted carry sportsbook lines; none of that is used.