Game Recap: Preseason Game 2 vs Phoenix Mercury

The Golden State Valkyries completed the preseason schedule with a trip to Phoenix, getting a strong second half performance again, this time doing enough to secure an 84-79 win. This was another opportunity for players to impress and an indicator of where players might stand in a possible rotation when the season rolls around. The team will have more practices before they are forced to make a decision on the final roster for opening day.

The Lineups

The Valkyries had the same starting lineup of Veronica Burton, Tiffany Hayes, Kayla Thornton, Monique Billings, and Temi Fagbenle. Neither Cecilia Zandalasini nor Stephanie Talbot were healthy enough to play and Kate Martin joined them on the injured list for the game. The Mercury were not at full strength in this game, missing Monique Akoa Makani and Kahleah Copper from the starting lineup of their preseason opener and Lexi Held also did not play.

First Half

The team started out with cold shooting again, but their defense kept them in the game and allowed them to lead at the end of the first quarter. Any hopes that they would heat up in the second half were dashed as they managed even fewer points in the frame to trail 36-29 at the break. Golden State ran rotations in the way they would in a regular season game again as Laeticia Amihere’s excellent performance in the opener gave her more minutes as the only post player coming off the bench. After playing the fewest minutes in the first game, Migna Toure got several minutes on the wing while Carla Leite and Julie Vanloo backed up the guard positions again.

Second Half

The Mercury extended their lead early in the second half with an 8-0 run, but four makes from beyond the arc in quick succession, helped the team get back into the game before the starters were taken out for the rest of the game. Kyara Linskens joined the bench players from earlier and they repeated the feat of last game by tying the score heading into the final quarter. Phoenix scored the first basket, but Carla Leite completed a four-point play and the Valkyries never trailed again, breaking a tie with four minutes to play and getting the win. Chloe Bibby, Kaitlyn Chen, and Elissa Cunane got to finish the game so all available players got to play again.

The Verdict

Getting a win gives the team a little momentum heading into the season, but as with all preseason games, the final score is hardly the most important aspect to pay attention to afterwards. The slow start and lack of offensive rhythm for the starting lineup is a concern given the amount of minutes that they have played together. With the atmosphere expected to be electric at tipoff on Friday, starting strong will be of even greater importance. A number of different bench combinations have worked so more mixing and matching or bringing in a player off the bench earlier could be solutions in the regular season for better first halves.

Roster Decisions

With no more preseason games, focus shifts completely to the decisions that need to be made on which players are let go to get the team to an opening day roster. Janelle Salaun’s Italian season running long should mean a 13 player roster to start the campaign, but that still requires 4 players to be waived. The preseason lineups so far do give some indication of who is getting the opportunities to prove themselves early and which players can play which positions.

The WNBA veterans should feel relatively secure about their positions and Carla Leite’s youth works in her favor as a player with a lot of room to grow. That could leave as few as a single roster spot up for grabs to start the year and all of those players would bring something different with a mix of younger and older players. Migna Toure’s performance certainly moved her more into consideration even though she and Kaitlyn Chen would have the most difficulty from a positional standpoint. The need for at least one more post player for now would seem to give the edge to Kyara Linskens based on her getting into preseason games earlier than either Chloe Bibby or Elissa Cunane.

Player of the Game

For the second straight game, one of the bench players came in to provide energy and scoring so Migna Toure is the player of the game. As the last player to get into the first game, she had a lot to prove before roster decisions. Injuries made her a natural fit to get in earlier on the wing and she showed her years of professional experience by rising to the occasion. With the team struggling with shooting again, her scoring in the second half helped the team get the lead and win. It could still be hard for her to make the final roster, but she could not have done much more in this game.