Janelle Salaün, Carla Leite shine as Valkyries beat Sparks to open road trip

The Golden State Valkyries finally found their groove.

After struggling to get anything going offensively in their first two games, the Valkyries had their best shooting game of the season in a 82-73 road win over the Los Angeles Sparks at Crypto.com Arena.

Carla Leite scored 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the field. Fellow French teammate Janelle Salaün had 18 points and seven rebounds in her second game in the WNBA.

Golden State shot a season-high 41.5% from the field and 31% from the three-point line.

After scoring 37 points in last week’s season opener, the Valkyries held Sparks guard Kelsey Plum to 16 points on 6 of 18 shooting from the field. Dearica Hamby led Los Angeles with 25 points and 16 rebounds.

The Valkyries fell behind by two points in the first quarter, but the Bay Area team caught fire in the second.

A jumper from Temi Fágbénlé capped off a 18-0 run to open the period. At one point, Golden State held a 17-point lead after a Kate Martin swished a 3 from the top of the key.

After struggling with shooting from beyond the arc in their first two games, the Valkyries made six of their 16 3-pointers in the first half and shot 50% from the field to lead 49-35 at halftime.

Salaün scored 13 of her 18 points in the first half to lead Golden State.

With a commanding lead, the Valkyries continued their hot shooting into the third quarter.

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A Leite 3 with under a minute left in the period pushed the Golden State lead to 20 – its largest lead of the game.

Los Angeles made things interesting in the fourth quarter, cutting the Valkyries lead to as little as five points. But the Valkyries made enough plays down the stretch to seal the win.

Golden State will hit the road again next week when it plays the New York Liberty on Tuesday.