The Valkyries weren’t taking the bait talking about clinching playoffs the past few days. On Sunday, they had a chance to clinch without even playing a game if Portland had lost, but because the Fire beat Phoenix, the Valkyries could clinch at home. Tiffany Hayes didn’t have much to say about it on Sunday, but Veronica Burton did elaborate on the mentality a bit on Monday.

“It's hard to compare because I think it was so different, but I would say I had that very similar level of joy, and I think that's what's unique about Golden State, is the culture that we have here,” she said. “Coming into last season we had all the doubts, and the low expectations, and all of that. This year, they still were pretty low, but they were maybe a little bit higher. I think we still like to maintain that chip on our shoulder and underdog type of mentality.”

Head coach Natalie Nakase did note that this roster has experience beyond last season’s playoff run, too.

“I said the goal is to be the team that wins their last game in the season,” she said. “That's the goal, and so with that, this is just part of the process that we have to build in terms of being in the playoffs. That's great, but we have so much work to do. We're playing teams with a lot more continuity, a lot more experience together, a lot more playoffs together.”

Kiah Stokes was back after missing her first game of the season last week when the Valkyries beat Chicago. She picked up five rebounds in 24 minutes in her return from concussion protocol.

The Valkyries haven’t lost since July 29 in Phoenix and are riding a six-game winning streak.