Frenchwoman Gabby Williams scored 30 points and led her team, the Golden State Valkyries, to achieve its first title in the Women's Basketball League (WNBA), defeating the Atlanta Dream 68-63 in the decisive match that determined the identity of the champion, to be crowned the best player in the finals.
Williams scored 28 points in the second half alone, which is a record in the history of the league finals, to contribute to the victory of her team, which was founded only two years ago, in the final series with a score of 4-3, in the longest title confrontation in the history of the league.
“I wasn't going to lose on Halloween,” Williams said. "It's easy when the energy is positive and great like this. I wouldn't change anything."
Although she scored only two points in the first half, Williams took control in the second half in crucial moments, and led Golden State to advance and maintain the advantage in the final minutes, thus earning her the MVP award in the league finals.
Williams, who scored 15 points during the third quarter alone, added: “I don’t know what to say, I love moments like this.” “Coach Nat (Natalie Nakase) asked me to be patient in the first half. It was difficult, but I listened to her, and she was right as usual.”
The 30-year-old continued: “All we needed was the presence of wonderful people. We have players with a winning mentality. We have players who are ready to sacrifice on the field in order to win. They don't care about scoring points as much as they care about defending and grabbing rebounds. They are ready to do anything to win, and we have succeeded in building a great culture here.”
This victory was achieved in front of stands filled with more than 18,000 spectators in the Chase Center Hall, cheering on the home team, while the Atlanta Dream lost in the final series for the fourth time in its 18-year history.
“We have an amazing team,” Valkyries owner Joe Lacob said. “What you did was unbelievable.”
Williams scored a three-pointer with 2:19 minutes left, giving Golden State a 60-57 lead. After Alisha Gray, from Atlanta, missed an attempt to score from close range, Williams added two free throws to expand the difference to five points.
Kia Stokes was able to follow a missed ball by Williams to score two points, raising the score to 64-57, before Tiffany Hayes and Veronica Burton sealed the victory through free throws in the final moments.
“This achievement is dedicated to all the underappreciated or misunderstood people,” Nakase said. "It's proof that if you put your heart and soul into your work, you can... win championships."
British Harriet Dart won the first singles title of her career in the WTA tournaments after overcoming her loss in the first set to defeat Austrian Lily Tager 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Guangzhou Open Tennis Championship in China on Sunday.
The 5th ranked player in Britain and 115th in the world, coached by former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli, overcame her faltering start after losing her serve in the opening game.
Dart recovered her balance to level the score at 4-4 in the first set, but Tagger immediately broke her opponent again and then served to win the first set.
The first break point in the second set went to Dart, who took advantage of the opportunity to lead 5-3, then tied the sets to go into a deciding set.
In the final set, the momentum fluctuated repeatedly and the two players exchanged breaks 5 times in a row. Dart finally regained her balance after saving two break points to win the service game and lead 5-3, then finished the match and won the title.
Enzo Maresca, coach of the English football team Manchester City, realizes that his team needs to put an end to the individual mistakes that have cost them the loss of matches in the recent period.
The British news agency (PA Media) reported that Manchester City, which is awaiting an appeal against the ruling issued in the case of its financial irregularities, suffered its second loss in a row in the English Premier League, after losing to its guest Brighton with a clean goal, on Saturday, at the Etihad Stadium.
The winning goal, scored by Yassine Ayari, came after Matheus Nunez failed to clear a cross, so the ball was prepared again for the Brighton player, who put it into the net.
This came after costly mistakes committed by Gianluigi Donnarumma and Mark Guhi during the 1-2 loss to Aston Villa last week.
“Things like this happen sometimes,” Maresca said. Unfortunately; They talk to our players. But I think it's part of the game and football. These mistakes were repeated in our confrontations during the last matches, specifically in the last two or three matches.”
He added: “We have to analyze what happened and understand what we can do better, then try to overcome it.”
The last two defeats cast a shadow on Marisca's wonderful start with Manchester City, after the team achieved victory in its first 7 league matches this season.
The Italian coach said: “We are certainly not happy; The players, me, the coaching staff and the club...no one feels happy at all when we lose matches.”
He added: “But we knew that we would not win all the matches, so moments like this come. We just have to try to improve things and get past this stage, and strive to achieve victories as soon as possible.”
Manchester City travels to Germany to face German Leipzig in the Champions League on Tuesday.
