The Valkyries have proven time and again that when the stakes are the highest, they deliver.

They delivered in tight fourth quarters, on the road in hostile environments and in moments when their inexperience was supposed to catch up to them. 

And on Thursday night, they delivered the biggest win of the season. 

In front of its 21st consecutive sold out crowd of the season, Golden State clawed its way back from a sluggish start to defeat the league-worst Dallas Wings 84-80 to guarantee its spot into the postseason. The Valkyries are the first WNBA expansion team to make the playoffs in their first season. 

Janelle Salaün led the Valkyries with 19 points. Carla Leite came off the bench and scored 15 points and dished out five assists. Monique Billings added 11 points. 

Paige Bueckers led Dallas with 27 points. Former Archbishop Mitty and Stanford standout Haley Jones had 18. 

Golden State is the Bay Area’s second consecutive expansion team to make the playoffs in its inaugural season, joining Bay FC, which made the NWSL postseason last year. 

The Valkyries were thoroughly outplayed in the first half. 

Golden State usually opens games whipping the ball around and making teams uncomfortable with its aggressive style of defense. 

But the young Wings weren’t phased. Jones torched the Valkyries for 12 points in the first half while Dallas held the home team to 31.4% shooting and forced eight turnovers. 

At halftime, Dallas led 41-32. 

The Wings continued to pour it on early in the third quarter as they built their advantage to as big as 13 behind a barrage of mid-range jumpers from Bueckers. 

But the Valkyries shifted the momentum of the game through Leite. 

Leite scored six points in the quarter and put constant pressure on the rim. The rookie guard took control of the offense and initiated every play for the Valkyries. 

Golden State cut the deficit to four going into the fourth quarter as the crowd at Chase Center continued to feed the team energy. 

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In the final period, both teams traded baskets until the final seconds. The Valkyries continued to play through Leite. 

But the decisive bucket came when Veronica Burton laid in a basket while getting fouled to extend the Valkyries’ lead to five with 22.3 seconds left. 

Dallas opened the game hot, going on a 10-0 run through the first three minutes of the first quarter. 

The Valkyries will have their final home game of the season on Saturday against the Minnesota Lynx.