Date, Time, Location: Sunday, July 27th, 10:00am PDT, Mohegan Sun Arena (Uncasville)
Broadcast Information: KPYX (Bay Area) and KMAX (Sacramento area), NBC Sports Boston (opposition’s home market), CBS Sports Network (outside of teams’ local markets), Audacy (radio)
The Golden State Valkyries start a five-game road trip with an early game on Sunday against the Connecticut Sun. It will be a quick turnaround after Friday night’s home game, but the trip will get tougher with the games spread over eight days before they can return to the Bay Area. Their opponents are stuck in last place yet have still proven to be tough on teams so far. The Valkyries will be trying to get back to an even record and continue their momentum from the last win. This will be the first Golden State game on CBS Sports Network for those outside of the local broadcast areas of the two teams.
The Valkyries
After missing the last game, Monique Billings has already been ruled out of Sunday’s game as well to join Kayla Thornton on the sidelines. All other players are expected to be available, which means that Carla Leite would be able to face Rachid Meziane, who was her club coach at Villleneuve-d’Ascq to start the season before he took the Connecticut job after she missed the first meeting between the teams. Iliana Rupert and Meziane also spent some time in the French national team setup together as this will be an opponent where the taller lineups used in the last game make sense to deploy again.
The Opposition
Connecticut has only won one game since their game in San Francisco, a home victory over Seattle back on July 9th. Their last game was on Thursday at home against the Los Angeles Sparks, staying close in the first half, but eventually losing by fifteen points. Rayah Marshall missed that game due to illness, but could be available in a backup role again. Kariata Diaby, who was the only Sun player to not play in the last meeting, and Jaelyn Brown are no longer on the team, but Haley Peters returned to the team after being waived before the contract guarantee date. Besides signing former Valkyrie Migna Toure, the Sun were finally able to bring in their first-round pick from last year, Leila Lacan, after she finished her time with France’s national team and the young guard has provided them with a boost lately.
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