Valkyries takeaways: What went wrong against cellar-dwelling Connecticut Sun

Playing their second competition since losing All-Star Kayla Thornton to a season-ending knee injury Golden State still had a chance to claw back to on Sunday Facing the Sun the squad with by far the worst record in the WNBA the Valkyries played arguably their worst challenge of the season after flying in to Connecticut at a m local time on Saturday and tipping off at noon on Sunday Coming off a rousing - home mastery over the Paige Bueckers-led Dallas Wings on Friday the visitors road woes continued as Connecticut rolled past Golden State - in the first meeting of the Valkyries five-game trip I just have to do a better job of organizing this day in between and giving them more direction on how this day works out Golden State coach Natalie Nakase mentioned noting that she is still learning how to manage the WNBA schedule as a head coach The Valkyries - are - at Chase Center but dropped to - on the road Against the Sun - the offense was a mess committing turnovers that led to Sun points Connecticut outscored Golden State - on the fastbreak We learned what not to do and how to stay together when things hit the fan Valkyries guard Veronica Burton commented But this is one I think we ve got to scrap Iliana Rupert playing in her second meeting with the group since arriving from France led the Valkyries with points and four rebounds Meanwhile four Suns players scored in double figures with living legend Tina Charles scoring and grabbing six rebounds in just minutes Marina Mabrey and Bria Hartley each scored The Sun which had lost of its previous games heading into Sunday led - at the half The Valkyries fell a half-game behind the Aces for the eighth and final playoff spot and will try to get back in the winner s column against Atlanta on Tuesday Zoning out The Valkyries have been an elite defense all season entering Sunday s match ranked No in points allowed per battle ppg and first in opponents FG That shot-stopping prowess did not show up in the Northeast as Golden State was picked apart by a Sun squad that was bottom of the league in points per match The Sun were of from -point distance in the first half with Bria Hartley putting in of in the first minutes The worst group in the league eviscerated Natalie Nakase s vaunted zone forcing the Coach of the Year frontrunner to scrap it in the second half I ll give Connecticut credit because they played really hard currently and with a lot of strength and we just had zero Nakase announced It wasn t our day We re missing free throws layups and that s just out of character The Valkyries missed Thornton who spent the first half of the season guarding the other club s top member and being an elite help-side defender Monique Billings also did not play Man-to-man hardly worked much better as Golden State trailing by just four minutes into the third quarter Thornton-less forward rotation Earlier in the week Nakase made it clear that no individual athlete on the Valkyries would be expected to replace the offensive production of Thornton the company s lone All-Star who will miss the rest of the season because of a knee injury Cecilia Zandalasini Janelle Salaun and Laeticia Amihere split time at the forward spot Salaun the group s top shot-creator from the wing put in nine points But Zandalasini and Amihere were less prolific Amihere was of and Zandalasini took just one shot Martin is money Wing Kate Martin did not play against Dallas on Friday but the second-year Iowa product remained ready for her moment against Connecticut On a day when the Valkyries were stuck in neutral her helter-skelter play-style and willingness to bomb away from deep was one of the band s insufficient bright spots She subbed in for the first time in the second quarter and fleetly made two -pointers Martin who put in nine points just missed out on scoring in double-figures for the eighth time this season Related Articles How Archbishop Mitty Stanford alum Haley Jones is finding her WNBA groove Golden State Valkyries Takeaways from win over Paige Bueckers-led Wings Kaitlyn Chen faces superstar Paige Bueckers as UConn sisters reunite in Valkyries-Wings matchup Valkyries All-Star Kayla Thornton out for season with knee injury We re really devastated Valkyries All-Star Thornton out for Friday s contest vs Dallas