On Halloween night at Chase Center in San Francisco, the Atlanta Dream’s quest for a first franchise championship ended in heartbreak. The Golden State Valkyries edged them 68-63 in the first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history, winning the series 4-3 and capturing the title in just their second season of existence.
Gabby Williams delivered a Finals MVP performance for Golden State, scoring 30 points—28 of them in the second half, a record for points in a half of a WNBA Finals game. She also contributed defensive plays, including four blocks. The Valkyries, an expansion team that had been dismissed by some as lacking star power, silenced the critics in front of a sellout violet-clad crowd at the arena fans call “Ballhalla.”
Atlanta Dream fall short in historic Game 7, as Golden State Valkyries claim first WNBA title 68-63.
For the Dream, it was another near-miss in their fourth Finals appearance. Jordin Canada led Atlanta with 18 points, Allisha Gray added 16, and Angel Reese finished with eight points and 12 rebounds. The Dream shot just 33.3% overall and struggled from three-point range, missing 24 of 30 attempts. Golden State’s defense largely contained Reese after her strong contributions earlier in the series.
The game was a tense, low-scoring defensive battle. Atlanta held a six-point halftime lead after outscoring the Valkyries 18-10 in the second quarter. In the third, Williams ignited a surge, scoring her team’s final 11 points of the period (including three consecutive threes at one stretch) as Golden State erased the deficit and took the lead.
The fourth quarter stayed tight. Rhyne Howard’s layup tied the score at 57 with 2:41 remaining, but Williams answered immediately with a clutch three-pointer. She later hit free throws, and Kiah Stokes added a key late basket (Stokes finished with 13 rebounds and two blocks). Allisha Gray made free throws with 11 seconds left to cut the deficit, and Atlanta forced a jump ball. Williams tipped it to Veronica Burton, who sank two free throws with 5.1 seconds remaining to make it 68-63. A final contested three by Howard rimmed out as time expired.
The Dream had forced the historic Game 7 with an emphatic 80-69 win in Game 6 at State Farm Arena, led by Gray and Howard. That victory evened the series after Golden State had taken a 3-2 lead. Both teams entered the Finals seeking their first title—the Dream after previous runner-up finishes, the Valkyries after a rapid rise that included sweeping the defending-champion Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals.
Williams, a Bay Area product who joined the Valkyries after time with Seattle, spoke to the team’s resilience: “All we heard last year, ‘We don’t have no stars, we don’t have no talent.’ Yeah, right. We got good people. We got winners.” Fans chanted her name throughout the closing stages.
Atlanta’s season still marked significant progress. Reese earned Defensive Player of the Year honors and set multiple records, while she and Howard earned All-WNBA Second Team recognition. Coach Karl Smesko’s group showed fight throughout a grueling series and a strong playoff run. After the loss, the organization and players expressed pride in the breakthrough while noting the pain of falling just short once more.
The 2026 Finals capped a record-setting season for the WNBA in viewership and attendance. For the Dream, the near-miss in the league’s first winner-take-all championship game leaves a bitter taste—but also motivation heading into the next campaign. For the Valkyries, it was history made in purple and black on Halloween.
