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Golden State wins the first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history, and Gabby Williams carried them there

Gabby Williams scored two points in the first half, then exploded for 28 in the second to lift the Golden State Valkyries past the Atlanta Dream 68-63 and claim the franchise's first WNBA title in just their second season of existence.

Williams was ice-cold, then scorching. That sequence told the whole story.

SAN FRANCISCO, Through the first half of Game 7, Gabby Williams had two points on one-of-four shooting inside a sellout Chase Center that already smelled like history. The Atlanta Dream led 30-24. Every statistical trend favored Atlanta: the team that scored more off turnovers had won every previous game in the series, and the Dream had also won every game where Angel Reese hit at least one three-pointer. Atlanta was doing both.

None of it mattered.

Williams scored 28 points in the second half, erupting with three consecutive three-pointers in a stretch that sent Ballhalla, the nickname Golden State fans gave Chase Center during WNBA games, into a frenzy. The Valkyries won 68-63. The WNBA has a new champion, and it took Golden State exactly two seasons to get there.

The Golden State Valkyries are the 2026 WNBA champions, having reached the mountaintop in just their second year of existence. They are the first expansion franchise in the league's history to win the Finals that fast. By one measure, the record goes much further than women's basketball: this is the fastest an expansion team in American sports has won a championship in the Super Bowl era, which began in 1966.

A record-breaking night at Ballhalla

Williams finished with 30 points, three rebounds, two assists, two steals and four blocks. She scored more points in a second half than any player in WNBA Finals history, and she became the only player to record 30-plus points, four-plus blocks and two-plus steals in a Finals game. Per the Elias Sports Bureau, she was also the first player in WNBA history to score 15 consecutive points in a Finals game.

Williams joined Penny Taylor, who did it for Phoenix in 2007, as the only players in WNBA history to score 30 or more points in a winner-takes-all Finals game. Coach Natalie Nakase did not hide her feelings afterward. "Gabby is our closer," Nakase said. "She stayed patient, she stayed with it. Closing with 30, that is incredible!"

Williams had been the franchise's first marquee free-agent signing, coming over from Fenerbahçe in April. Over the full series, she averaged 19.6 points per game and scored the most points ever by any player across a single WNBA Finals series. Asked about her performance after the buzzer, she kept it short. "I stayed patient," she said.

The ending was anything but clean

The game did not finish without drama. The contest was tied at 55 with under three minutes left before Williams and the Valkyries pulled ahead. Atlanta kept answering. A chaotic sequence produced a jump ball with 8.3 seconds remaining, but Williams won the tip, point guard Veronica Burton controlled it, and Burton hit the final two free throws of the season to seal it.

Burton's fingerprints were all over this championship run. In Game 7 alone she finished with 10 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. She has been the starting point guard for every game in the history of the franchise and was selected by the Valkyries in the WNBA's expansion draft after the 2024 season. Coach Nakase called her simply "the best point guard right now in the league."

Tiffany Hayes added 11 points off the bench. The Valkyries shot just 38 percent from the field, while Atlanta converted only 33 percent of its attempts, a grind to the finish that mirrored the defensive identity both coaches had built all series.

Two years. One promise. Done.

The franchise was officially awarded in October 2023. Golden State was awarded the franchise in 2023 and the team made its debut in 2025, finishing with a 23-21 record and becoming the first expansion franchise to make the playoffs in league history in their first year. They won 32 games in 2026 and finished as the league's top seed.

Owner Joe Lacob had promised a title within five years of the team's founding. Three years after making that pledge, the Valkyries rallied to beat the Atlanta Dream 68-63 in Game 7 and made good on it.

Nakase, too, had words for the moment. "We had unconditional love that is unbreakable," she said. "This is proof that if you put in all your heart, all your soul, you can f**king win championships."

Saturday night at Chase Center was also the 53rd consecutive sellout for the franchise, dating back to last season. The Valkyries have never played a regular-season or postseason home game that didn't sell out.

Williams was named Finals MVP. She was still celebrating on the court when reporters asked Nakase about defending the title next year. Her answer was brief and unfiltered: "Need to get drunk tonight."

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WDCM Editorial
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WDCM Editorial is the byline on news and feature stories produced through Washington DC Magazine's editorial process — AI-assisted research, reviewed and approved by Editor-in-Chief Rod Wright.

EDITOR IN CHIEF: RODRIQUEZ WRIGHT II

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