July 13, 2026

The Aces Won by 48, Then Lost by 34, and the Valkyries Climbed Back Into a Tie for Second

Las Vegas beat Phoenix by 48 Saturday and lost to Indiana by 34 Sunday, an 82-point margin swing in 24 hours that dropped the Aces from a first-place tie into a second-place tie with the idle Valkyries (17-7), a half-game behind Minnesota. The Fever, who did Golden State the favor, host the Valkyries Wednesday on USA.

The 82-point swing that moved Golden State up

The Valkyries did not play this weekend, and it may have been their best two days of the season. On Saturday the Aces beat Phoenix 106-58, a franchise-record 48-point win that, with Minnesota's win the same night, shoved Golden State out of the first-place tie it had earned Friday. Twenty-four hours later the same Las Vegas team lost 109-75 at home to Indiana, and the standings flipped back. The Aces fell a half-game behind Minnesota into a second-place tie with Golden State, per the Associated Press recap. Minnesota (17-6) now leads alone. The Valkyries (17-7) and Aces (17-7) are even at .708, a half-game back. Golden State moved up without suiting up.

How Indiana beat Las Vegas by 34

The Fever never trailed and led by as many as 34. Kelsey Mitchell scored 27 and became the fifth player in WNBA history with 25-plus points in six consecutive games, joining A'ja Wilson, Tina Charles, Arike Ogunbowale and Maya Moore, per the AP. Sophie Cunningham added 20 on 6-of-7 threes, Aliyah Boston had 19 and 11 rebounds, and Caitlin Clark, in 25 minutes on a minutes restriction, put up 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Clark also became the fastest player in WNBA history to 600 career assists, reaching the mark in 72 games to break Ticha Penicheiro's record of 81. Indiana shot 55.9 percent from the field and 15 of 31 from three. The Aces got within four midway through the third, 66-62, and then the Fever outscored them 43-9 the rest of the way. Wilson finished with 20 and 12; Chelsea Gray had 15. A team that had just scored 106 was held to 75 on 4-of-17 shooting from deep.

Film room: what Wednesday turns on

The matchup that decides Golden State's road-trip finale is the same one Indiana just dominated: the league's hottest offense against its stingiest defense. The Fever hung 109 on a Las Vegas team that had hung 106 on Phoenix two nights earlier, and they did it from the arc, 15 of 31. The Valkyries allow a league-low 76.2 points, the fewest in the WNBA, the same defense that held Connecticut to six points in a quarter Friday without Gabby Williams. Indiana's recipe Sunday was to make Wilson uncomfortable early, she shot 2 of 6 in the first quarter and drew no fouls, while Boston went to work on the other end. That is the exact trade Golden State's defense is built to force. The question Wednesday is whether the Valkyries can drag a team that just scored 109 down into the 70s, the way they have with everyone else.

The standings, and Golden State's week-long window

The Aces do not play again until July 20 at Toronto, leaving them frozen at 17-7 for more than a week. In that window the Valkyries play twice before Las Vegas does: Wednesday at Indiana, then Saturday at home against Washington. Win both and Golden State is 19-7 with a cushion over the idle Aces. Minnesota is the only team ahead that is still active. The Lynx host Phoenix tonight at 6 p.m. PT on Peacock (Napheesa Collier remains out), and a Minnesota loss pulls Golden State into a three-way tie at 17-7. A Minnesota win keeps the Valkyries a half-game back. The Sparks are at Atlanta tonight at 4 p.m. PT on USA Network, a game that reshuffles the middle of the standings but not the top. Dallas, now 16-8 after a fifth straight win, is the closest team chasing Golden State.

Wednesday: the rubber match, and the Williams question

Golden State closes its five-game road trip Wednesday at Indiana (5 p.m. PT, USA Network, with KPIX/KOVR and Audacy locally), sitting 4-0 on the trip. It is the third and final regular-season meeting, and the series is split: Indiana won 90-82 at home on May 22, and the Valkyries took the rematch 90-88 at Chase Center on May 28 behind Veronica Burton's 25 points and a career-best five blocks. The Fever are not the team they were in May. They just beat the Aces twice in Las Vegas this month, 84-68 on July 5 and 109-75 on Sunday, and Clark's minutes restriction is loosening, up to 25 on Sunday with three days of rest before Wednesday. The Valkyries' side of the injury ledger is unchanged: Gabby Williams is still day-to-day with the back contusion from the July 8 fall in Toronto, she missed the Connecticut game, and her status for Wednesday has not been updated. She is the team's leading scorer and only All-Star starter. Burton started in her place Friday and went for 17 and six assists.

Tracking

• Dallas is the team no one is watching. The Wings ran their win streak to five, rallying past Chicago 96-91 with a 30-18 fourth quarter. Paige Bueckers had 22 and 11 assists, Jessica Shepard her league-leading 15th double-double, and the game's five total double-doubles were the most in a regulation game in WNBA history. Dallas is 16-8 and hosts New York Thursday.

  We might be down seven or eight with six minutes left, but if we get three or four consecutive stops and score on three of those possessions, it's going to be a tie game.

  Wings coach Jose Fernandez, Dallas Hoops Journal

• Toronto snapped its skid in Montreal. Marina Mabrey scored 30 and Nyara Sabally hit the go-ahead layup with 52 seconds left as the Tempo edged the Liberty 93-91, ending a four-game losing streak. The bigger number came Friday: a WNBA regular-season record crowd of 20,996 packed the Bell Centre for Dallas's win over Toronto. New York has now lost seven of nine.

• Mitchell's streak, in context. Six straight 25-point games puts Kelsey Mitchell in company with Wilson, Charles, Ogunbowale and Moore, and she has 39 consecutive double-figure games. She is the problem the Valkyries' defense has to solve Wednesday.