{"id":137683,"date":"2025-08-11T19:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T19:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/137683\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T19:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T19:13:10","slug":"new-week-hatches-with-valkyries-hosting-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/137683\/","title":{"rendered":"New Week Hatches with Valkyries Hosting Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!1I9U!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae6b917d-fed9-4888-9034-8a930d44d44e_950x482.png\" data-component-name=\"Image2ToDOM\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"image-link image2 is-viewable-img\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/ae6b917d-fed9-4888-9034-8a930d44d44e_950x.jpeg\" width=\"950\" height=\"482\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/ae6b917d-fed9-4888-9034-8a930d44d44e_950x482.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:482,&quot;width&quot;:950,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}\" alt=\"\"   fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"sizing-normal\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats newsletter. We\u2019re excited to announce a new partnership with<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hudl.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Hudl<\/a>. Hudl\u2019s industry-leading tools &#8211; Sportscode, Instat, and Fastmodel &#8211; elevate the preparation, performance, and player development of WNBA and NCAA teams. We appreciate their support and look forward to working with them to help bring more insight about the women\u2019s game to you.<\/p>\n<p>You can find me on<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:oeq2abni3k7g6lhctu5pl34b\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Bluesky<\/a> and HHS on<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/herhoopstats.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Bluesky<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/herhoopstats\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Twitter<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCUPn5XNCxPw8UKfqwebkeCg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> YouTube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/herhoopstats\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/herhoopstats\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!JY05!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4eb9c50d-c656-4f8d-9d0a-b1b0ffe024a4_3810x3048.jpeg\" data-component-name=\"Image2ToDOM\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"image-link image2 is-viewable-img\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/4eb9c50d-c656-4f8d-9d0a-b1b0ffe024a4_3810.jpeg\" width=\"1456\" height=\"1165\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/4eb9c50d-c656-4f8d-9d0a-b1b0ffe024a4_3810x3048.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1165,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:1496871,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/herhoopstats.substack.com\/i\/170716663?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4eb9c50d-c656-4f8d-9d0a-b1b0ffe024a4_3810x3048.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}\" alt=\"\"   class=\"sizing-normal\"\/><\/a>The Valkyries are hoping for a better result than their last meeting with the Sun. Golden State won\u2019t wearing the road whites this time. (Photo credit: Chris Poss)<\/p>\n<p>The fifth-to-last week of the WNBA regular season begins with one game on the schedule, featuring a team embroiled in what\u2019s shaping up to be a mad scramble to poach the final playoff spots in the playoffs between the three teams from states touching the Pacific Ocean. The Valkyries would be the No. 8 seed if the playoffs started today, but they\u2019re tied with the Storm (16-16) and just a half-game up on the Sparks (15-16). Golden State will look to put its beak in front tonight as it hosts a team whose playoff hopes were fried before the season started and is probably just hoping it\u2019ll be over easy from here. In case the title, section header and previous three sentences didn\u2019t give the yolk joke away, I\u2019m making egg jokes to celebrate the hatching of (presumably) the Valkyries\u2019 new mascot this evening from the rather large purple egg that appeared outside of Ballhalla last week (it\u2019s since been moved inside). <a href=\"https:\/\/valkyries.wnba.com\/news\/golden-state-valkyries-announce-bird-watchers-night-presented-by-doordash-on-august-11-20250807\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bird jokes<\/a> too, because go birds.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Golden State avoided a third straight loss with Saturday\u2019s 72-59 win over the Sparks at Ballhalla, clinching the season series over LA by a 3-1 margin and the crucial tiebreaker that comes with it. The Valkyries fittingly became the first team to coax the WNBA\u2019s hottest offense into laying an egg in August while holding Los Angeles to an offensive rating of just 79.7 points per 100 possessions. LA came in having scored 100+ points in three straight games (the third team to do that in WNBA history) and having had an offensive rating of at least 125 in the previous two games. The Valkyries have incubated a 14-2 record when holding their opponents to ratings under 100 points per 100 possessions compared to a 1-13 mark when they give up a triple-digit rating. Only three teams have held their opponents to ratings under 100 points per 100 possessions more often than Golden State\u2019s 53.3% rate (16 of 30 games) \u2014 the Lynx (71.9%, 23 of 32), Mercury and Liberty (both 67.7%, 21 of 31).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Connecticut holds teams to offensive ratings under 100 at the lowest rate (16.7%, 5 of 30), and it didn\u2019t do so last night in a 94-86 loss at Las Vegas in which it allowed 108.0 points per 100 possessions to the Aces. It also allowed A\u2019ja Wilson to become the first player in WNBA history with 30 points and 20 rebounds in a game. The Sunny-side-up perspective is that Connecticut had an offensive rating of 107.5 in last night\u2019s loss and posted 109.6 points per 100 possessions in its previous game at Los Angeles. Those were the Sun\u2019s third-and-fourth-highest offensive ratings of the season so far. One of the two that surpassed them came late last month as the Sun shelled out a 95-64 thumping of Golden State in which they bedeviled the Valkyries\u2019 vaunted defense from start to finish. Perhaps the Sun can harness some of those good vibes while they travel about 400 miles as the bird flies to play on back-to-back nights and try to avoid a fifth straight loss. Connecticut is also trying to avoid an 0-4 road trip, but can take solace in largely being done with multi-game road trips after this. The Sun technically have a three-game road trip coming up with stops in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but the middle game is so close to home it might as well be there.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Two Sun players particularly at home in the tri-state area that encompasses Connecticut, New York and New Jersey are Tina Charles and Marina Mabrey. Not only are they with the Sun now, but they hatched their careers in the Empire State and Garden State, respectively.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Christ the King alumnus and Queens native Charles \u2014 who I still wish had returned to the Liberty as a free agent in the winter instead of the Sun \u2014 remains one of the WNBA\u2019s most productive players despite having her quietest season on the boards. The league\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/herhoopstats.com\/stats\/wnba\/research\/player_careers\/?season_type=reg&amp;stats_to_show=per_game&amp;criteria_type=values&amp;criteria0=pts&amp;comp0=ge&amp;threshold0=5000&amp;submit=true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">second-leading scorer<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/herhoopstats.com\/stats\/wnba\/research\/player_careers\/?season_type=reg&amp;stats_to_show=per_game&amp;criteria_type=values&amp;criteria0=trb&amp;comp0=ge&amp;threshold0=3000&amp;submit=true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">leading rebounder<\/a> all-time is averaging 15.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in her 14th WNBA season, one of nine players in the league in the <a href=\"https:\/\/herhoopstats.com\/stats\/wnba\/research\/player_single_seasons\/?min_season=2025&amp;max_season=2025&amp;season_type=reg&amp;stats_to_show=per_game&amp;criteria_type=percentiles&amp;criteria2=pts_per_game&amp;comp2=ge&amp;threshold2=85&amp;criteria3=trb_per_game&amp;comp3=ge&amp;threshold3=85&amp;submit=true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">85th percentile or better in both points and rebounds per game<\/a> this season. She\u2019s on pace to average at least 15 and 5 for the 12th time, <a href=\"https:\/\/herhoopstats.com\/stats\/wnba\/research\/player_total_seasons\/?min_season=1997&amp;max_season=2025&amp;season_type=reg&amp;criteria2=pts_per_game&amp;comp2=ge&amp;threshold2=15&amp;criteria3=trb_per_game&amp;comp3=ge&amp;threshold3=5&amp;submit=true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">which would tie Lisa Leslie for the most such seasons all-time<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Manasquan doesn\u2019t have quite the hoops pedigree of Christ the King (which produced Sue Bird and Chamique Holdsclaw as well as a handful of NBA players), but its most notable hoops alumnus Mabrey won a natty at Notre Dame and has had a seven-year WNBA career and counting. Her 15 points per game this season match the career-high she set in 2023 with Chicago despite hitting a career-worst 29.5% from deep. She\u2019s coming off of a 22-point outing on 8-for-16 from the field in the loss at Las Vegas last night, the most points she\u2019s scored in her last 11 games (a span which includes a month missed due to injury). and It was also her first time hitting 50% from the field since making a frittata out of Dream defenders en route to 34 points and 13-for-22 from the field in a Sun win in early June.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A Valkyries preview without notes on Veronica Burton, the only player to appear in all 30 of the team\u2019s games (and a starter in all of them no less), would be like an omelette without the egg. Cecilia Zandalasini has been whatever ingredient it is that you think ties an omelette together lately. It\u2019s 2025, I know better than to post food takes on the internet.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Burton\u2019s making the most of her first opportunity to play extended minutes in the WNBA and seems to have become an extension of coach Natalie Nakase on the floor, particularly in the absence of Kayla Thornton. She\u2019s averaging 10.8 points and 5.0 assists per game, the latter just outside the top 10 in the WNBA (11th), while hitting 36.8% from deep and 87.9% at the line. Burton had 16 points on 5-for-9 from the field in her team\u2019s win over the Sparks on Saturday, as theThe Valkyries improved to 12-7 (.632) when she scores at least nine points. On the flip side, they\u2019re 3-8 (0.273) when she\u2019s held to eight points or fewer. when she led the way with 16 on 5-for-9 from the field in Saturday\u2019s win over the Sparks, but they\u2019re 3-8 (.273) when she\u2019s held to eight points or fewer. That includes Golden State\u2019s losses to Las Vegas in the previous two games, in which Burton scored 14 points combined (8 and 6) on 5-for-14 from the field.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Zandalasini scored 14 points on 5-for-7 from the field including 4-for-6 from deep in the win on Saturday, making the Valkyries 3-0 when she scores in double figures since the All-Star break. Golden State is 2-3 in its other five games since the All-Star break \u2014 0-2 when Zandalasini plays and scores fewer than 10 points and 2-1 in games she missed, but those wins came by one point at Washington and seven at Chicago without Angel Reese or Ariel Atkins. The Valkyries also improved to 3-0 when Zandalasini scores more than 12 points this season, compared to 1-9 when she\u2019s in the lineup and held to 12 or fewer.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats newsletter. We\u2019re excited to announce a new partnership with Hudl. Hudl\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":137684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-137683","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115011728389087338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}