The Golden State Valkyries heard it for two seasons: no stars, no chance. An expansion team built from other clubs’ dispensable players, with no top-tier free agents and no All-WNBA selection on the roster, was not supposed to win anything — let alone a championship.
On Saturday night, in front of a violet-clad sellout crowd of 18,000 at Chase Center in San Francisco, they won everything. The Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream 68-63 in Game 7 of the WNBA Finals, clinching the franchise’s first championship in just its second year of existence — and doing it in the first winner-take-all Game 7 in the 30-year history of the Finals.
A game decided in the second half
The Dream led 30-24 at halftime, and history was on their side: the team that led at halftime had won every game of the series so far. Then Gabby Williams took the game over.
Williams scored her team’s final 11 points of the third quarter, singlehandedly outscoring Atlanta 15-14 in the period, and kept going into the fourth. She finished with 30 points — 28 of them in the second half, the most points in a half in WNBA Finals history, and tied for the most points in a winner-take-all Finals game. She also became the first player in league history to score 15 consecutive points in a Finals game, a run spanning the third and fourth quarters.
When Atlanta’s Rhyne Howard tied the game at 57 with 2:41 left, Williams answered with a clutch three-pointer. The Valkyries never trailed again. As the final buzzer sounded, confetti fell from the rafters and players sprinted onto the floor — “Ballhalla,” the arena’s nickname, had become “Boohalla” for Halloween night, and now it had a women’s championship to go with the Golden State Warriors’ 2022 title.
The night’s numbers
| Number | What it means |
|---|---|
| 68-63 | Final score, Game 7, October 31, 2026 |
| 30 | Gabby Williams’ points — and her Finals MVP case |
| 28 | Williams’ second-half points, a WNBA Finals record |
| 15 | Consecutive points by Williams, a Finals first |
| 18,000 | Sellout crowd at Chase Center |
| 2 | Seasons the franchise has existed |
A team with no stars — by design
The Valkyries are the first team in league history to win a title without a single All-WNBA selection in that season, and the fastest expansion team across the major North American leagues to win a championship. They joined the WNBA in 2025, made the postseason in their first year — the first expansion franchise ever to do so — and reached the Finals faster than any team in league history.
Owner Joe Lacob had guaranteed a championship within the franchise’s first five years when the Bay Area was granted the team in October 2023. The Valkyries did it in two, under head coach Natalie Nakase, a two-time champion as a Las Vegas assistant with more than 15 years in professional basketball. “She is our closer,” Nakase said of Williams after the game. “She stayed patient, she stayed with it. Closing with 30!”
Williams, 30, had never won a WNBA title before, after stints in Chicago and Seattle. She was named Finals MVP, and also set postseason records for total points (217) and steals (23) in a single playoff run.
The Dream’s fourth denied try
For Atlanta, it was a fourth denied attempt at a first championship. Jordin Canada scored 18 points, Allisha Gray added 16, and Angel Reese had eight points and 12 rebounds, but the Dream could not hold their halftime lead or survive Williams’ second-half storm. Kiah Stokes, now a four-time WNBA champion, pulled down 13 rebounds and blocked two shots in a losing effort. DeWanna Bonner became the first player in league history to reach 600 career postseason defensive rebounds.
What comes next
The Valkyries’ title rewrites the expansion playbook. The old assumption was that a new franchise needed years — and a superstar — before it could contend. Golden State contended immediately, won in year two, and did it with depth, defense and a closer who saved her best for the biggest half of her life. The rest of the league, including the next wave of expansion franchises, will spend the offseason studying how.
And for the Bay Area, a region that has collected championships across sports, there is a new banner coming to Chase Center — violet, not blue and gold, and earned faster than anyone thought possible.
Sources: ESPN, Associated Press, CNN, USA Today.
