SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 19: Naz Hillmon #00 of the Atlanta Dream and Tiffany Hayes #15 of the Golden State Valkyries during Game Two of the 2026 WNBA Finals on October 19, 2026 at Chase Center in San Francisco, California. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)

Notebook from Game 2 79-65 loss against Atlanta

We solved one rotation mystery on Monday night: Aminata Gueye came into the game in the first quarter for roughly one minute when Atlanta put Madina Okot in the game. After Okot struggled a bit, Karl Smesko pulled her, and Natalie Nakase sat Gueye. It seems like she plans to just match her up against the 6-foot-6 Dream center.
Angel Reese was unreal. With 30 points and 16 rebounds, she was a problem on both sides of the court. The Valkyries held her to just two shots — both misses — in the second half of Game 1, primarily with Laeticia Amihere defending her. She said after the game she wanted to be more aggressive, and she certainly was in Game 2.
“She had a great game and we have to do a better job and that's all around,” said Valkyries center Kiah Stokes. “I felt like we kind of let everyone have their way. So overall we need to be more aggressive offensively.”