WNBA Finals: Gabby Williams leads Valkyries to nervy Game 1 win over Dream

Gabby Williams scored a game-high 26 points, including four key free throws in the final 78 seconds as the Golden State Valkyries held off the Atlanta Dream 68-64 in game one of the WNBA Finals.

Williams, runner-up to Atlanta’s Angel Reese in Defensive Player of the Year voting, has emerged as an offensive force for the Valkyries in the playoffs and carried the scoring load on a tough shooting night for the hosts, who did not have another player score in double figures on Saturday.

The French star took some time to warm up, going scoreless in the first quarter as the Valkyries got off to a tentative start in front of a raucous crowd at Chase Center.

“Once we all started having fun and the excitement got out, we started to kind of find our way,” Williams, who erupted for 16 points in the second quarter, said in an on-court interview.

“There was a lid on that basket tonight, but that’s why we rely on our defence,” she said.

Golden State trailed by one with 1 minute and 18 seconds remaining when Williams seized the rebound off a miss by Atlanta’s Allisha Gray and was fouled by Reese.

Williams made both free throws to put the Valkyries up 65-64 and added another pair of free throws to seal the win with 4.1 seconds left.

“It came down to getting stops and that’s been our bread-and-butter all year,” noted Williams, whose team has allowed 335 fewer points than any other in the WNBA this season. “That’s why we harp on it so much, because we’ve built such great defensive habits.”

Gray, the Dream’s leading scorer, returned after missing two games with a hand injury and scored 19 points, but she was scoreless in the fourth quarter, when Atlanta made just two of their 19 attempts from the floor.

Reese added 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Rhyne Howard scored 12 for Atlanta.

Atlanta scored just two in an overall eight-point fourth quarter, where Gray was scoreless over the final 10 minutes and Reese scored all of her 14 points in the first half.

“I don’t think they really did anything,” Reese said. “Maybe that was just on me; I wasn’t aggressive enough with the ball and trying to get the ball and get to my spot. I’m definitely going to do a better job of that next game.”

The Valkyries will host game two of the best-of-seven series on Monday.

Both teams are chasing a first WNBA title. The Dream have come up empty in three prior trips to the Finals, most recently in 2013.

The Valkyries, who last year became the first WNBA expansion franchise to reach the playoffs in their inaugural season, are now contending for the title in their second.