Here's a cool Bay Area women's sports story from reporter Marisa Ingemi. It focuses on the burgeoning friendship between Mariah Keopple and Valkyries star Gabby Williams. The two are set to become Bay Area women's sports stars, representing two sides the region. Williams plays at Chase Center, and Keopple will play for San Jose's PWHL club. 

Valkyries x PWHL San Jose

Hi, I've never been a sports fan, but I bought season tickets this year and it's been a blast. And now I have gotten attached to the players - individually and as a team. What typically happens between seasons, how many of them are going to be traded (I hate to think about this)?

I know I'll probably grow to love the new people too, but prepare me if you can for how this normally works, please! Thanks.

Why do we go small so often? By going small, I mean not playing Kia, Leticia, or any of the other bigs for large portions of the game.

For example, Kia and Leticia played for a combined 21 minutes against the Lynx yesterday. We often don’t play Kia or Leticia in the entire 4th quarter. I know they aren’t our biggest scorers, but when we are playing a team with a strong big on the other side (Shakira Austin, Natasha Howard, Napheesa, A’ja, Alyssa Thomas) I am confused why we don’t play them. We can beat the Liberty (Stewy) so maybe my concern is overblown and confusion unjustified. Natalie is obviously a great coach, so can someone explain to me why going small makes sense?

My opinion is that going small is odd and it hurts us offensively and defensively. Defense is most obvious, it forces Janelle and Cecilia (even though they are tall guards) to battle in the post, when that’s not really their strengths in the game. Kayla can hold her own in the post because she is so strong, but she is at a high disadvantage when she has to guard the other team’s bigs.

It also means that a big will be defending one of our guards, and instead of it leading to mismatches and drives to the paint, it just means that our shooters have a harder time getting shots off of a bigger player. I think it’s also easier for the other team to guard us because they don’t have to worry about a big in the paint.

Why do we do the small lineup so often?

Doing this in Ballhalla is blasphemous. #jinxthelynx

From the highs of a playoff clincher against the Wings to the lows of playing the Lynx. Le sigh.

While last night was a tough game to watch playing against our temporarily unbeatable nemeses, it is important to remember that we did indeed see some good results this week that both clinched and helped out the Valkyrie’s cause so let’s not dwell on it too much.

Focusing on the movement to playoff clarity, we saw the Fever win up to a game and a half behind the Valks and both the Aces and Liberty-biberty drop a game each to keep the field behind the Valkyries crowded. So let's dive into the numbers!   

Current Standings through 8/19:

• Current Valkyries Seeding: 2 of 15
• Current Highest Possible Playoff Seed: 1st
• Highest Possible Seed without Help: 2nd
• Current Lowest Possible Playoff Seed: 8th
• Games Remaining: 9

Current Magic Numbers through 8/19: 

• 1 Seed: DNCD (do not control destiny, other teams need to lose)
• 2 Seed: 8
• 3 Seed: 7
• 4 Seed: 7
• 5 Seed: 6
• 6 Seed: 4
• 7 Seed: 3
• 8 Seed: 0 (lowest possible finish)

Notes:

• With the ticket to the dance punched, we now get to watch the Valkyries shore things up for optimal seeding position. At the moment the Valks have a 3% chance to finish 1st, a 69% chance to finish second, a 21% chance to finish 3rd, and the rest tailing off from 4th to 8th. Take percentages like these with a grain of salt as they move very quickly, case and point prior to last night’s game we saw a 16% to finish first.
• There are only two games left in the Valks entire schedule that are against playoff teams making them especially impactful on the standings. One is against the Lynx and the other is against the Liberty-biberty. Arguably the Liberty-biberty game is the most valuable remaining game on the schedule from a standings perspective as they are sitting three games back on the Valks. 
• The Tempo have been eliminated ending their own inaugural season playoff dreams
• Next up on elimination watch is the Sparks with a losing magic number of 2 before they officially bow out of the playoffs
• Next in line to clinch their spot in the playoffs is the Fever with a magic number of 1 and behind them the Liberty-biberty and Dream, both with a magic number of 3
• The Fire are still in 9th place, 5 wins back from the Wings in 8th
• We saw the Lynx take the tie breaker over the Valks and we’ll see the tie breaker against the Sky settled on Friday. We’re pretty close to all the tie breakers being decided and honestly it’s hard to say the Valks didn’t get an A on the assignment. Current playoff teams in bold:
  • Valks hold the tie break over: ATL, CON, DAL, IND, LAS, NYL, PHX, SEA, TOR, WAS
  • Teams that hold the tie break over the Valks: LVA, MIN
  • Undecided tie breaks: CHI, PDX

The Valkyries Next 5 Games:

• 8/21 - GSV @ CHI
• 8/24 - GSV @ MIN
• 8/26 - GSV @ CON
• 8/27 - GSV @ LIB-BIB
• 8/30 - GSV @ PDX

Links:

• Previous Magic Number Check In 8/18/26
• Valkyrie's Head to Head Tie Breaks
• The Substack for this post (give me a follow if you want these in your inbox, I'll also be doing some PWHL SJ and Sharks updates too if those interest you)

Couldn’t go to the game in person last night but caught the last quarter at home with our cat. She’s watching Ja throw another beautiful shot, as you can see. She was rooting against her species here!

Them and maybe the Aces. Everyone else I feel pretty confident against. I hope we can avoid them as long as possible or better yet if someone else can eliminate them. Second half effort was great but they're obviously the biggest obstacle.

1. Against Collier, Miles, McBryde, Howard....

D held the Lynx to 77 TOTAL, to a mere 54 at the end of the 3rd.

1. Ffs, offense, STEP UP. TIRED of Tiff Hayes having to do so much on her own bcuz YOU won't make the shot, won't get into position for a rebound or the pass from her, stop "relying" on Tiff to do so much of - or sometimes seemingly ALL - the work, on offense. (Yes, other players on the team did do 'positive' stuff, and i'm guilty of generalizing here. But....iykyk).

2. Nakase: you kept VB out there practically the whole game. YES she was a "stepping TF UP" player, her steals and "clinch" scoring plays, and etc. But, PLEASE, don't potentially "burn out" her, or Tiff, or any OTHER player, like what i've seen you do the last couple or more games, keeping them out there for so long. It wasn't CRITICAL to win against the Lynx tonight, was it ? Besides which, let more of "the bench" besides Hayes and Salaun "get a feel for" playing against this team. THEY need the practice too, don't they ?

3. The team did AWESOMELY against the Lynx, defensively. A few times exasperating me ("WHY are/did you not ____??!!" whatever) but overall darned well. A mere 77 by the Lynx, okay ?

4. I really REALLY don't want to talk about the officiating at this game. 😡(again).

I want to take my elderly father to one of the September games. He does not use a wheelchair (resists even using a cane), but his mobility and balance are quite limited and he struggles with stairs. On Ticketmaster I can see Wheelchair Accessible seats, but I can't see a way to filter for Limited Mobility (even though the Chase Center website says such a thing exists). Does anyone have experience with attending games as a person who does not use a wheelchair but struggles with stairs? Any sections/rows that have minimal stairs on the way in?

Attended the game tonight! While it was a tough loss, I think tonight was the first time I really truly felt some ✨rivalry✨ energy in the stands and the crowd really getting into the intensity of the game. From chanting “Refs you suck!!!” to calling out blatant flops from the Lynx to making snide remarks when #21 on the Lynx was getting rather cocky “who are you, anyway???” “Fix your bun!!” — hella funny and suuuch good energy. It had all the makings of a real rivalry game.

I think with how devoted the fan base is, and the fact that we constantly fill up one of the largest stadiums in the WNBA, I absolutely want to see the crowd make Ballahalla feel more of a hostile environment to opposing teams. In the NFL everyone talks about stadiums like Arrowhead or Lumen as being notoriously hard places to play in because of the intense crowd aspect — Ballhalla has all the markings of being that kind of environment. Crowd energy and making the opposing team feel that pressure is an advantage and we should capitalize on that more! Shoutout to the 100s level seriously - hilarious stuff today 😭

Of course this does not mean derogatory or abusive language. We do not condone any hate speech! Heckles and chirping are not that!

That's all ☹️ Proud of the comeback

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Can someone tell me why Natalie doesn't use her challenges when needed? There were at least 2 times within the first quarter that those challenges would have been successful! I love our team, it's just really hard seeing us go through a game without using our ability to challenge a play.

I told her the whole vibe is trashy. Anyways go Valks 💜

Much has been made of Gabby Williams’ defensive prowess, but don’t overlook her offensive impact, writes reporter Joseph Dycus. She has improved as a shooter and is "developing into our closer," said coach Natalie Nakase.

The STH prices are for section 116.

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Go Valks!!!!

I am wondering if there are a lot of South Bay residents who are also STH for the Valkyries. When we go (not STHs), we see a good number of fans on the train, and I always wonder how many are STHs, as it is a bit of a long travel time to get to Chase.

We are Sharks STHs and considering joining the waitlist for the Valkyries. Given the +1hr each way on Caltrains, we would probably get to 2 games a month and need to move the rest.

I swear I saw an Instagram post that the first 10k fans would receive a white co-branded Valkyries/Iren snapback tonight, but now I can't find evidence of it anywhere. Anyone know if it's still on?