Sunset in Ballhalla

W 87-63

Coming into tonight's game, I was nervous about a potential let-down following such a high-energy victory over the Fever. And especially given the Valkyries upsetting loss against the Wings--where our Valkyries, it needs to be said, played down to the competition--a let-down game seemed very possible.

But I should not have worried! The Valkyries took care of business start to finish against a struggling Sun team that was further shorthanded by the absence of Marina Mabrey.

Not only was this a decisive victory. It was also a team effort where we got to see the whole roster shine. In fact, this was the first game where every active player on the roster got playing time and was able to score. So cool to see this--especially from our roster newcomers, Ariel Powers and Bree Hall. To be sure, we are pulling for Kate Martin to find her rhythm--she has such a clean shot when it's working! But until that happens, it's nice to see production up and down the bench.

Kayla Thorton continues to establish herself as the team leader, pouring in 21 points in 22 minutes. But the loudest cheers of all may have been (and really, definitely were) for Kaitlyn Chen! Recently signed on a hardship contract while Eurobasket is underway, she scored five points, including a strong and-1 finish early in the game soon after she came off the bench. Chen is a crowd favorite and we hope to see a lot more of her this season!

What can you say? We didn't come into this season thinking that the Valkyries would have surefire wins. But the team has been playing great. On every metric we were supposed to beat the Connecticut Sun. And we beat them decisively. The Valkyries are now above .500 at 7-6 and are an astonishing 5-1 at Ballhalla.

Our game on Wednesday will be against the formidable New York Liberty. But if any team can take on a challenge, we know it is this one!