Valkyries shut down Caitlin Clark, defeat Fever in front of raucous Chase Center crowd
SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden State Valkyries put on a defensive masterclass against superstar Caitlin Clark.
The expansion team held Clark to 11 points and forced the former Iowa standout into six turnovers as Golden State defeated the Indiana Fever 88-77 on Thursday in front of its sixth straight sellout crowd of 18,064. Clark shot a career-worst 0-for-7 from beyond the arc.
Kayla Thornton led the Valkyries with 16 points and six rebounds. Tiffany Hayes had 14 points and Veronica Burton had 11. In her season debut, Chloe Bibby came off the bench and scored 12 points.
Golden State’s bench scored 45 points.
“That’s what I was looking for. Maximum effort,” Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said. “Our first half wasn’t great and I had to get on them. … We just had to make some corrections and make some adjustments.”
Aliyah Boston had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Indiana.
The Valkyries withstood a 10-0 run from the Fever in the third quarter to go down just four going into the final 10 minutes.
In the fourth, the Valkyries offense came alive as they outscored the Fever 33-18 in the final period. Golden State forced Clark into deep 3-point jumpers and flustered the visiting team with tenacious defense in the paint.
Despite not having household scorers like the Fever, the Valkyries outpaced Indiana throughout the fourth quarter to seal the win. Hayes scored eight points in the period and took on the assignment of guarding Clark. She held Clark to four points on 1-of-4 shooting in the final 10 minutes.
“We got a team full of dogs and we’re relentless,” Hayes said. “We never give up from top to bottom. We looked to everybody on this team to contribute and that’s what we did today.”
The Valkyries opened the game with a 7-2 run that jolted the crowd and prompted Fever acting head coach Austin Kelly to call a timeout minutes into the first quarter. But after the strong start, the Valkyries went cold as they missed their next 13 shots.
Clark’s scoring was held in check for the majority of the first half as she had just two points on 1-of-8 shooting from the field through the first 20 minutes. Clark didn’t score a basket until the 4:11 mark of the second quarter on a strong drive to the rim. She found other ways to contribute, though, dishing out six assists and grabbing four rebounds.
Golden State went down as much as 12 in the second quarter, but a steady scoring quarter from backup center Bibby kept the Valkyries within striking distance. Bibby scored eight points in the first half and made two 3-pointers.
A buzzer-beating 3 from Boston gave the Fever a 44-38 lead at halftime.
Golden State will play its next four games at home, including Sunday’s game against the Connecticut Sun (5:30 p.m., KPIX+) at Chase Center.