Golden State's defence held Atlanta to a season-low 55 points on Monday, giving the Valkyries a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven WNBA Finals, with Game 6 set for Thursday in Atlanta.
The Golden State Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream 64-55 in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals on Monday, taking a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. The result leaves the Valkyries, who are only in their second WNBA season, one victory away from the first championship in the franchise's history. The series continues on Thursday in Atlanta.
Defence decided the game. According to Al Jazeera, Atlanta shot 19-of-65 (29 percent) from the floor and scored a season-low 55 points, while Dream star Angel Reese was held to seven points on 2-of-8 shooting, although she led all players with 15 rebounds. Kiah Stokes and Veronica Burton each scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Golden State, Tiffany Hayes and Cecilia Zandalasini added 12 each, and Stokes recorded a game-high four blocks. Rhyne Howard led Atlanta with 20 points and Jordin Canada scored 12.
"We're not done yet. We've got one more," Stokes said after the game, adding that defence has been the team's staple all season. The score and series situation are consistent between ESPN's official game highlights and Al Jazeera's report. The embedded video is ESPN's Game 5 highlights package; it shows the game's action but does not by itself establish the statistics quoted here, which come from the Al Jazeera report.
