The Golden State Valkyries are champions of the WNBA. In front of a roaring home crowd in San Francisco, the second-year franchise beat the Atlanta Dream 68-63 in a nerve-shredding Game 7 on Saturday, 31 October 2026, to clinch the Finals series 4-3 and lift the first title in the club’s short history.
It was a triumph built on one extraordinary second half. Trailing at half-time and with their season on the line, the Valkyries were carried home by Finals MVP Gabby Williams, whose 30 points included a record-breaking 28 after the break.
FAKTA
- Final score: Golden State Valkyries 68, Atlanta Dream 63
- Series: Valkyries win the WNBA Finals 4-3
- Decider: Game 7, Chase Center, San Francisco, Saturday 31 October 2026
- Finals MVP: Gabby Williams — 30 points, 28 of them in the second half
- Crowd: 18,000 fans packed the arena, nicknamed Ballhalla
- History: The first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history, and a first title for Golden State in only its second season
- How the decider was forced: Atlanta won Game 6 80-69 to level the series at 3-3
Williams takes over after half-time
The Dream looked the steadier side early on and took a 30-24 lead into half-time. Williams, so often Golden State’s driving force, had managed only two points in the first half, and the championship seemed to be slipping toward Atlanta.
What followed was one of the great Finals halves. Williams scored 15 points in the third quarter alone, including the last 11 of the period, as Golden State closed the quarter with a 17-3 run to move 45-44 in front. Her 28 second-half points set a new record for scoring in a half of a WNBA Finals game.
Golden State’s shooters kept finding room in the second half as the home crowd lifted the Valkyries toward the title.
The fourth quarter stayed tense to the end. With the scores locked at 53-53, Williams scored nine straight points for her team, and her deep three-pointer with 2:18 remaining put Golden State ahead for good. Free throws from Tiffany Hayes and Veronica Burton closed out the 68-63 win, and violet confetti fell from the arena ceiling as the celebrations began.
Williams finished with 30 points on 10-of-23 shooting, including four three-pointers, along with four blocks, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Her 30 points tied the most ever scored in a winner-take-all Finals game, and she became the first player in WNBA history to score 15 consecutive points in a Finals game.
Golden State Valkyries: a title in only two years
The scale of the achievement is hard to overstate. Golden State joined the WNBA as an expansion team ahead of the 2025 season, assembled largely from players other clubs had left unprotected, and were widely written off as a side without a star. They have now become the fastest expansion team among North America’s major sports leagues to win a championship, doing it in just their second year.
They are also the first team in league history to win the title without a single All-WNBA selection in that same season. Their playoff run took them past the Dallas Wings in the opening round and then to a sweep of the Las Vegas Aces in the semi-finals, before the seven-game battle with Atlanta.
For Williams, the franchise’s first marquee signing, it is a first WNBA title after previous spells with Chicago and Seattle. Team owner Joe Lacob had promised a championship within the club’s first five years; the Valkyries have delivered it in two.
What the title means
For Atlanta, the wait for a first championship goes on, despite a Finals run that pushed the eventual winners to the very limit. The Dream forced a deciding game with a convincing Game 6 win, and led for long stretches of Game 7, but could not withstand Williams’ second-half surge.
For Golden State, the title crowns a remarkable rise and sets a new benchmark for expansion teams in professional sport. A club that began with modest expectations now stands at the top of the women’s game, with a Finals MVP at the peak of her powers and a home arena that has become one of the loudest in the league.
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