The Valkyries beat the Aces 87–77 in Game 3, advance to the WNBA Finals
The Valkyries came back from 11 down to win the semifinals series 3–0; the No. 4 Dream are next.
Game story
The Golden State Valkyries beat the Las Vegas Aces 87–77 in Game 3 in overtime on Friday, October 9. Kayla Thornton led the Valkyries with 18 points; A'ja Wilson had 21 for the Aces. The win closes out the semifinals series 3–0 and sends the Valkyries to the WNBA Finals against the Dream; the Aces’ season is over.
Golden State Valkyries vs. Las Vegas Aces | FULL GAME HIGHLIGHTS | October 9, 2026
Official video · WNBA on YouTube · plays in YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode when you press play · Watch on YouTube ↗
Who stood out
Kayla Thornton (Valkyries): 18 points and 9 rebounds on 5-of-12 shooting (2-of-6 from three), 6-of-7 at the line in 33 minutes, a +16 in her minutes. She came in averaging 7.7 points over 44 games of the 2026 regular season.
Gabby Williams (Valkyries): 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting (0-of-4 from three), 4-of-4 at the line in 29 minutes, a +3 in her minutes.
A'ja Wilson (Aces): 21 points and 10 rebounds on 6-of-19 shooting (1-of-4 from three), 8-of-11 at the line in 43 minutes, a -7 in her minutes.
Kayla Thornton: Game 3 against her baselines
This game · her last 10 before it · her regular season entering it
Baselines are her regular-season games before this one (PropSports game log). Playoff games are never mixed into them.
PropSports box score (game 401918300) and PropSports game log values as of Oct 10, 2026 payload 892570f5ad2dc879
Show the numbers in this figure
| Game 3 · 1 game | Last 10 · 10 G | Season · 44 G | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 18 | 5.2 | 7.7 |
| Rebounds | 9 | 3 | 4.5 |
| Assists | 0 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| Minutes | 33 | 21.5 | 24.3 |
How it happened
It did not start that way: the Aces led 19–16 after one quarter and by as many as 11. The third quarter was the swing — the Valkyries won it 17–7, with a 17-0 run from 7:56 to 2:24 of that quarter — and the Aces led 45–36 at halftime. The game had three lead changes; the Valkyries’ largest lead was 10.
The Valkyries’ bench outscored the Aces’, 27–13.
The Valkyries made 30-74 from the field (41%) and 7-24 from three; the Aces 26-68 (38%). Turnovers ran 11–15, and points off turnovers 7–17 in the Aces’ favor — the margin came from shooting, not possession control. Rebounds went 43–35, points in the paint 40–32.
Where the game separated
The 5 team stats with the widest gaps
Selected by the size of each difference relative to a typical game-to-game gap for that stat. Descriptive, not a causal breakdown of the margin.
PropSports box score and linescore (game 401918300) values as of Oct 10, 2026 payload c497519a3a6ba3ca
Show the numbers in this figure
| Valkyries | Aces | |
|---|---|---|
| Bench points | 27 | 13 |
| Points off turnovers | 7 | 17 |
| Rebounds | 43 | 35 |
| Offensive rebounds | 10 | 6 |
| Turnovers | 11 | 15 |
What it means
A reason to be cautious about carrying this game forward: the Valkyries gave up more points off turnovers than they scored, 17–7. One game is still one game.
The Valkyries came into the series as the No. 2 seed and the Aces as the No. 3; the higher seed finished the job.
Next for the Valkyries: the No. 4 Atlanta Dream in the best-of-seven wnba finals, with home-court advantage as the No. 2 seed. Game 1 is at Chase Center on Saturday, October 17.
Next up: GS at LV on Oct 11 (no market capture yet) — and the Aces allow 85.8 a game, 10th-most of 15. Player props enter the board inside 36 hours of tip.
Semifinals series
Valkyries win the series 3–0
- W+11
- W+2
- W+10
Each final game of the best-of-5 series through this one, from the Valkyries side; the number is the final margin.
PropBetEdge playoff bracket (final scores) values as of Oct 10, 2026 payload 6de53db4da2a6587
Show the numbers in this figure
| Team | Game | Result | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valkyries | Game 1 vs LV (71–60) | W | +11 |
| Valkyries | Game 2 vs LV (83–81) | W | +2 |
| Valkyries | Game 3 at LV (87–77) | W | +10 |
Betting relevance
On the spread: DraftKings’ line, had the Aces favored by 4.5; the 10-point margin put the Valkyries on the right side of the spread.
The 164 combined points went over the 156.5 total.
Kayla Thornton (18 points against 7.7 entering the game and 5.2 over her previous 10) is the line the next prop market has to price.
Markets touched: Spread · Total · Moneyline
Market evidence
Market reference: DraftKings (a single sportsbook). PropBetEdge also holds a pre-tip capture from Oct 9.
Unknowns
How the market prices both teams on the next slate beyond the stored captures.
Evidence & methodology4 cited records · how this story was built
Records cited
- PropSports box score + play-by-play + shot locations · source ↗
- PropSports team schedules (records after the game, scoring entering it) · source ↗
- PropSports standings (standings as of Oct 10) · source ↗
- DraftKings line
How this story was built
Photo: SusanLesch · CC BY 4.0 (cropped)Pictured: Kayla Thornton.
Generated by PropBetEdge’s deterministic newsroom (wnba-articles/1.7.0 · Full story, wnba-depth/1.1.0) and checked by the publication gate before release; betting relevance: actionable.
Revisions
- · Updated with new source data
Editorial policy · Corrections & revisions · Methodology · Sources
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