Kiah Stokes controls the glass without scoring as Valkyries take Game 1 from Aces

Kiah Stokes missed all three of her shots on Sunday. The Golden State Valkyries' leading scorer still credited her, along with Kayla Thornton, with winning the game.

"I said after the game that KT and Kiah really won this game for us, limited them to one possession and gave us extra possessions," Gabby Williams said, according to the Associated Press, after Golden State beat the Las Vegas Aces, the defending champions, 71-60 at Chase Center to open the WNBA semifinals.

Stokes finished with 14 rebounds in 27 minutes, seven of them on the offensive glass, according to ESPN's box score. The AP credited her with three blocked shots; ESPN's box lists four.

She set the tone early. The Valkyries said Stokes grabbed seven rebounds in the first quarter, matching her postseason high for any single period, and reached halftime with nine rebounds and three blocks. The team noted that only one other player in these playoffs, Las Vegas star A'ja Wilson, had put up those numbers in a half.

A 27-rebound margin

Golden State finished with 52 rebounds to 25 for Las Vegas, a franchise record, according to the team. The offensive boards were even more lopsided: 17 for the Valkyries and two for the Aces in ESPN's count. Thornton added 11 rebounds, as did Williams, who scored a game-high 25 points.

Those extra chances mattered in a game where neither side shot well. The Valkyries made 37.7% of their attempts and went 7 of 24 from 3-point range, according to the AP, while the Aces shot 33.9% in their lowest-scoring game of the season.

Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon did not argue the point. "We lost the game on the boards, no question about that," she said, adding that her team had spent the previous two days talking about rebounding and boxing out. She called it one of the Aces' "most atrocious games of the season."

Wilson, the reigning MVP and the league's leading scorer, had 24 points for Las Vegas, and Chelsea Gray added 16. Aces guard Jewell Loyd went down with a left leg injury shortly after the third quarter began, and the club said it was evaluating her.

Jackie Young hit a 3 that cut the Golden State lead to 58-53 with 8:25 remaining, and the Valkyries outscored Las Vegas 13-7 the rest of the way.

Stokes looked ahead afterward. "The goal here is to win our home games, so yes we did well for the first game but the Aces are championship-caliber, they know what it takes to win," she said. "Going forward we know that we need to come out on Wednesday and make sure we set the tone again."

The Valkyries arrived at the semifinals two days after rallying from 16 points down to beat the Dallas Wings in the deciding game of the first round, and coach Natalie Nakase was on the bench Sunday after going down on the sideline late in that game.

Game 2 is Wednesday night, again at Chase Center, with Golden State up 1-0 in the best-of-five set.

Sources

CBS Sports

ESPN

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